Film Forum

(1983, David Cronenberg) Christopher Walken, after a crash-induced coma, finds that with a touch he knows any other person’s secrets, preventing a watery death, solving a murder … but when he shakes politician Martin Sheen’s hand…From Stephen King’s novel. DCP. Approx. 103 mins.

Reviews

“The Dead Zone does what only a good supernatural thriller can do: It makes us forget it is supernatural… It’s a happy collaboration. No other King novel has been better filmed, and Cronenberg, who knows how to handle terror, now also knows how to create three-dimensional, fascinating characters.…The movie is filled with good performances…They all work together to take a movie that could have been just another scary thriller, and turn it into a believable thriller – which, of course, is even scarier.”
– Roger Ebert

“A well-acted drama more eerie than terrifying, more rooted in the occult than in sheer horror. It’s a sad, sympathetic and unsettling movie, quietly forceful but in no way geared to the cheap scream. Cronenberg’s direction is vivid and effective...the film’s individual scenes are very well staged.”
– Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“A crisp, efficient, and very literal adaptation of Stephen King’s best-seller Cronenberg’s direction is taut and tidy.”
– Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

“Well crafted and atmospheric, with an arresting central character.”
– Tom Charity, Time Out (London)