A great many crappy movies have been made from Stephen King’s novels, but David Cronenberg’s 1983 version of The Dead Zone is not one of them.  With a heartfelt performance by Christopher Walken at its core, a nightmare scenario at its climax and a very disturbing mystery to bridge those elements, this movie should be satisfying to all sorts of movie fans.

Walken is everyman Johnny Smith, a teacher who falls into a coma following a freak auto accident and awakens five years later with the power of second sight.  That power, triggered when he makes physical contact with people about to undergo lifechanging events, leads to three separate stories.  One involves a rural murder, another a foreseen accident, and the third a charismatic but thoroughly mad politician.  These stories comprise most of the action, yet the movie’s heart is with Johnny Smith as he tries to come to grips with his lost years (and the planned marriage to Brooke Adams which never occurred as a result), the power that he comes to view as both a blessing and a curse and his encroaching mortality.

The episodic nature of the story may not appeal to everyone, but it allows Cronenberg to shape different moods at different times and link them all together with Walken’s earnest, empathic performance.  Other directors might have overemphasized the dramatic elements of the particular episodes, which are rather sensational in nature, but Cronenberg realizes that Johnny Smith is the story, and centers his drama on Johnny’s feelings about the changing world around him and his efforts to prevent chaos.

As good as Walken is (Oscar-worthy, in my opinion), he is also surrounded by a terrific supporting cast.  Brooke Adams, Martin Sheen, Herbert Lom, Tom Skerritt, Anthony Zerbe and Colleen Dewhurst each heavily contribute to the creepy effectiveness of the film.  It’s the most mainstream movie Cronenberg has ever done (including A History of Violence) and it’s one of the finest Stephen King adaptations. My rating:  ✰ ✰ ✰ ½.  (7:3).