When he acquires a different kind of show for his station, a sleazy cable-TV programmer begins to see his life and the future of media spin out of control in a terrifying new reality.
The residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are being infected by a strain of parasites that turn them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.
A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
Director:
David Cronenberg
Stars:
Ralph Fiennes,
Miranda Richardson,
Gabriel Byrne
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife, and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.
After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
A young woman develops a taste for human blood after undergoing experimental plastic surgery, and her victims turn into rabid, blood-thirsty zombies who proceed to infect others, which turns into a city-wide epidemic.
Johnny Smith wakes from a coma due to a car accident, only to find he has lost five years of his life, and yet gained psychic powers. Foreseeing the future appears to be a 'gift' at first, but ends up causing problems...Written by
Paul Reynolds <pauljr@innotts.co.uk>
Shape of a blood bag clearly visible under Henrietta Dodd's sweater when she is shot by the sheriff. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Johnny Smith:
[Johnny is reading "The Raven" to his class]
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting, on the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door, and his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, and the lamp light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor, and my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted... nevermore.
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Crazy Credits
As the opening titles roll, certain parts (or "dead zones") of the screen become blocked out, until the part of the screen you can see spell out the title "The Dead Zone." See more »
Alternate Versions
Although the UK cinema version was 18-rated and intact in 1986 Thorn-EMI released a British home video version with 13 seconds cut to obtain a 15 certificate rating from the BBFC. A scissor suicide sequence was re-edited to remove shots of the preparation and aftermath, and shots of topless nudity and the descending scissors were removed from the gazebo murder. Later 18-rated releases feature the full uncut print. See more »
THE DEAD ZONE (1983) ***1/2 Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Colleen Dewhurst, Martin Sheen. David Cronenberg directed this exceptional adaptation of Stephen King's successful chilling novel about sad-eyed school teacher Johnny Smith (eerily personified by the always wonderful Walken) who after hurtled into a coma from a car accident, resurrects to find himself with clairvoyant powers by the simple touch with another human being. Effectively creepy at times and nice use of snow engulfed Maine as its setting. One of Walken's uncanniest performances and one of his own personal faves (which he lampooned later to much hilarity on a 'Saturday Night Live' skit ).
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THE DEAD ZONE (1983) ***1/2 Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Colleen Dewhurst, Martin Sheen. David Cronenberg directed this exceptional adaptation of Stephen King's successful chilling novel about sad-eyed school teacher Johnny Smith (eerily personified by the always wonderful Walken) who after hurtled into a coma from a car accident, resurrects to find himself with clairvoyant powers by the simple touch with another human being. Effectively creepy at times and nice use of snow engulfed Maine as its setting. One of Walken's uncanniest performances and one of his own personal faves (which he lampooned later to much hilarity on a 'Saturday Night Live' skit ).