lcliffor@bbncca.ARPA (Laura Frank Clifford) (10/25/83)
The Dead Zone is a pretty flat movie. It seems like "Stephen King adaptations" are beginning to mean a quick script to milk dollars. I've read a lot about David Cronenburg (the director of this movie), and personally can't understand what all the fuss is about. I've seen this effort and his last, Videodrome, and think he's pretty lousy. Can anyone tell me what he's done that's supposed to be good? (I think I caught another one of his - a movie about kids killing people, and laughed through that one too.)
ecl@ahuta.UUCP (ecl) (11/28/84)
DEAD ZONE
A film retrospective by Mark R. Leeper
I saw THE DEAD ZONE when it first came out, and at that time I did not
like it very much. My main recollection of the film was that it was a cold
emotionless, very episodic, that just did not capture my interest. I saw it
as a bland film based on a bland book by Stephen King.
[Then a friend whose opinion I respect said she really like it.] Based
on her recommendation I gave the film a second viewing. What can I say?
Maybe the film hit me in a bad mood last time. Seeing it now, I see a lot
in the film that I must have missed the first time.
THE DEAD ZONE is a very well acted film that delves into the various
aspects of what it means to have psychic powers. Christopher Walken wakes
up from a five year coma with the power to see important scenes from a
person's life -- past, present or future -- just by touching that person's
hand. The film _i_s episodic. It seems to move ahead as a series of short
stories not very closely related. Walken tries not to use his powers, to
lead a normal or even dismal life. But time and again chance visions force
him to act on knowledge that he has rather than let people be hurt. Finally
he has a vision so devastating that he must commit murder to literally save
humanity. It is a cold film, but rather than emotionless, it really is an
effective and moving film. The ending is ironically jubilant and sad at the
same time. Somehow I think the film works better on the small video screen
than it did in the theater. Television enhances the claustrophobic feel of
the film in a way that the wide screen fought against. THE DEAD ZONE is one
of the few films that should really be seen on TV. On the -4 to +4 scale,
this one rates +2, up from a -1 on my last viewing. Thanks, Terry.
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!lznv!mrlstrock@fortune.UUCP (Gregory Strockbine) (11/28/84)
>THE DEAD ZONE is one >of the few films that should really be seen on TV. I think VIDEODROME should also be seen on TV since its so TV oriented: the snuff tv station (24 hours of torture and sex with no plot); the throbbing, pulsating tv set to which a guy gives head to (he sticks his head into the tv screen which comes out to engulf his head); the guy who grows a slot in his stomach into which throbbing, pulsating video cassettes are inserted; the guy who will only appear on tv talk shows on a tv (that is, instead of him actually sitting there in a chair, there is a tv set with him on it and the host carries on a conversation with him).