{"id":35496,"date":"2021-07-14T07:26:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T11:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=35496"},"modified":"2021-07-14T07:26:10","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T11:26:10","slug":"the-dead-zone-1983-collectors-edition-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/14\/the-dead-zone-1983-collectors-edition-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dead Zone (1983): Collector\u2019s Edition [Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Some of the best Stephen King book to screen adaptations has been television mini-series. That\u2019s fascinating as \u201cThe Dead Zone\u201d often feels exactly like a television mini-series. Despite David Cronenberg\u2019s solid direction, \u201cThe Dead Zone\u201d is often very episodic. It doesn\u2019t have one streamlined narrative so much as it has vignettes that lead to what you could call the series finale. In retrospect after my first viewing, it\u2019s not at all a surprise that the premise inevitably led to a television series.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken), an average man and gifted school teacher, gets into a terrible car accident after a driving home from a date one night. Five years later he awakens from a coma and the world has moved on without him, including his girlfriend. Only Johhny didn\u2019t wake up the same man. When he touches someone, he can see their past or their terrible future. This gift is a curse, that is until he shakes the hand of a charismatic campaigning senator Greg Stillson (Michael Sheen), and Johnny becomes the only man who can avert a possible future global catastrophe.<\/p>\n

Cronenberg\u2019s \u201cThe Dead Zone\u201d is considered a classic in its own right, but it\u2019s not one of the best of King\u2019s adaptations. Despite his approval of Cronenberg\u2019s handling of his novel for the film, \u201cThe Dead Zone\u201d isn\u2019t nearly as cerebral as it initially promises in the first half. It spends much more time on character Johnny\u2019s re-connection with his old life after he falls in to a coma for five years. There\u2019s a lot more melodrama injected that makes the film feel much too overlong, and there\u2019s not too much emphases on what it accomplishes in the way of his powers. Christopher Walken gives a strong turn as Johnny Smith, a young man with everything to lose who tries to rebuild much of his life after coming out of a coma.<\/p>\n

This proves especially stressful when confronted with powers that provide extra trauma as he not only can see potential futures, but can also experience them in every way possible. Walken\u2019s turn in \u201cThe Dead Zone\u201d has proven to be one of his most iconic performances, and he manages to carry what is a pretty remarkable cast. Herbert Lom is very good here, as is Martin Sheen who plays a great villain. As Stillson, Sheen is the classic charismatic politician who is always planning something in the shadows. It\u2019s a shame we don\u2019t get much from the character throughout the narrative, even if the screenwriter does at least provide a hefty amount of foreshadowing.<\/p>\n

I wish we\u2019d gotten more of what Stillson was capable of, but the limited time that Sheen is on screen, he manages to make an undeniable mark. \u201cThe Dead Zone\u201d is a strong genre mix that showcases Christopher Walken beautifully. It\u2019s not by any means a masterpiece, but its pros outweigh its cons. And even sub-par Cronenberg is still worth checking out, when all is said and done.<\/p>\n

The new edition from Scream Factory includes three audio commentaries. <\/strong>There\u2019s one with director of photography Mark Irwin, one featuring Steve Haberman and Constantine Nasr, and one featuring Michael Gingold. There\u2019s an isolated score track with an introduction by Daniel Schweiger. \u201cSara\u2019s Story\u201d <\/strong>is an interview with co-star Brooke Adams. There\u2019s also the twenty minutes Producing The Dead Zone, Trailers From Hell: The Dead Zone with Mick Garris<\/strong>, the twelve minutes Memories From The Dead Zone<\/strong>, the nine minutes The Look of The Dead Zone<\/strong>, the nine minutes Visions From The Dead Zone<\/strong>, and the eleven minutes The Politics of The Dead Zone<\/strong>. Finally, there\u2019s the original trailer, a gallery of TV Spots, and a Behind the Scenes Gallery.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the best Stephen King book to screen adaptations has been television mini-series. That\u2019s fascinating as \u201cThe Dead Zone\u201d often feels exactly like a television mini-series. Despite David Cronenberg\u2019s solid direction, \u201cThe Dead Zone\u201d is often very episodic. It doesn\u2019t have one streamlined narrative so much as it has vignettes that lead to what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[64,240,302,703,874,906,982,1008,1087],"class_list":["post-35496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","category-movie-reviews","tag-adaptation","tag-crime","tag-drama","tag-mystery","tag-romance","tag-science-fiction","tag-stephen-king","tag-supernatural","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35498,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35496\/revisions\/35498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}