After publishing four hugely successful novels in the seventies, Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, The Shining and The Stand, Stephen King left many fans wondering how he could possibly top that last one -- The Stand was one epic apocalyptic beast of a novel, widely considered to be one of his best. And yet, the novel which did succeed that one, The Dead Zone, showed a new maturity for a writer who was still not out of his twenties.

Perhaps knowing he could not outdo the literary grandeur of The Stand, King did not even try. Rather, he told a subdued and melancholy tale about a school teacher (the cleverly named everyman, Johnny Smith), who gets involved in a traffic accident and is knocked into a coma for almost half a decade. When he awakens from this profound sleep, he has lost his job, his girl, his gait and yet he has a gained a very unique ability -- he can touch someone and instantly know things about their past, present and future. Before long he makes contact with an aspiring politician who may be responsible for Armageddon.

This book poses a very provocative and dangerous question: If you could go back in time to Nazi Germany and kill Adolf Hitler before he comes to power, would you do it? In other words ... can a political assassin ever be justified?

In 1983, screenwriter Jeffrey Boam and director David Cronenberg adapted The Dead Zone for the big screen. Starring Christopher Walken as Johnny Smith, the film also featured Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Anthony Zerbe and Martin Sheen as Greg Stillson, the aforementioned politician with his eyes on The White House and his finger on the button. Despite the reputations of King and Cronenberg, this film is neither a horror story or a gore fest. In fact, it is a thoughtful suspense tale, laden with bittersweet romance. Walken's moving performance is one of the finest of his long career.

WALKEN AS JOHNNY SMITH

2006 DVD release - excellent bonus features, recommended

In 2002, the USA network adapted King's novel into a television series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith. A few of the characters were merged to accommodate the story, but for the first three seasons at least, The Dead Zone was remarkably faithful to its source material. From season 4 on, however, especially after the death of series creator/producer Michael Piller, the series jumped the shark numerous times. It was cancelled in 2007, without resolution.


Remarkably, there have been over fifty films made from Stephen King's written work -- many of them have been utter shite, some have been good and a select few are great. The Dead Zone is one of the great ones.

If you've never read it, if you've never seen it ... seek it out.


THE DEAD ZONE - trailer