The Dead Zone (1983)

“The Dead Zone” is another excellent film where a Stephen King story is given to an accomplished director to bring to the screen. In this case it was David Cronenberg, who was already well known as a director of horror movies after having such recent hits as “Scanners” and “Videodrome”. Unlike Kubrick and his version of “The Shining”, Cronenberg followed the original text closely enough to not avoid getting on Stephen King’s bad side…as far as I know. The movie had a talented cast that consisted of Martin Sheen, a young Christopher Walken as the main character Johnny Smith, and it was co-produced by Debra Hill. The original novel was published in 1979.

The film opens in Stephen King’s favorite town of Castle Rock, Maine. Johnny White, a school teacher, is madly in love with his girlfriend Sarah. One night while driving home, Johnny has a terrible car accident and falls into a coma for five years. When he awakes he discovers that he has developed a psychic ability to learn details about someone by touching them. He also learns that Sarah has gotten married and has a child. After word gets around about Johnny’s power, he’s approached by a sheriff of a small town to help solve a rash of serial murders. Johnny eventually agrees and learns that the killer is the sheriff’s own deputy. The deputy commits suicide but his mother shoots and wounds Johnny, who then moves away and becomes a hermit who makes a living tutoring a few children. He is approached for his powers once again and agrees to help, but in the process he learns that he can change the outcome of the future visions that he sees. This ultimately leads him to having a vision of death and destruction that involves a politician and thus sets the course for Johnny’s eventual final conflict. 

Johnny is having a vision

Johnny is hunting a candidate for the US Senate