The Dead Zone (David Cronenberg, 1983, USA/Canada)

The Dead Zone arrived at arguably the peak of King's early career before his brand had been tarnished by some less-than-stellar film adaptations. 1983 saw the release not only of Zone but also of John Carpenter's Christine and Lewis Teague's Cujo. It is hard to imagine any other author having three of their works adapted for the big screen in a single year. The Dead Zone was also a landmark film for David Cronenberg. While Cronenberg had had some early success on the grindhouse circuit, The Dead Zone was his first full-fledged studio effort and lent a degree of professionalism to his brand.

An adaptation of King's 1979 novel, The Dead Zone is noteworthy for being one of the early King novels and adaptations that is not pure horror in the strictest sense. It feels much more like a political thriller, though it does contain supernatural elements. Jeffrey Boam's screenplay of King's novel distills much of the action of the novel down to various episodes, while not losing any of the major plot points. The episodic nature of the novel and the script would lend itself well to TV, and it is no surprise that The Dead Zone was later reimagined as a long-running TV series.

What could have been an insignificant pot-boiler is rendered a strong cinematic experience by the great performances all around, particularly from Christopher Walken as Johnny Smith and a sinister Martin Sheen as the politician Greg Stillson. Cronenberg's direction is not flashy but keeps the momentum of the story going. Also worth noting is the excellent score by Michael Kamen, which brings a feeling of gravitas and studio polish to the material. The Dead Zone is certainly one of the better King adaptations and one of David Cronenberg's standout films (though one of his least personal).

8/10