Poster.
The Dead Zone is the 1983 film version of the novel of the same name. It was directed by David Cronenberg.
Plot[]
After having a headache following a ride on a roller coaster in Castle Rock, Maine, schoolteacher Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) politely declines when his girlfriend Sarah asks if he wants to spend the night with her. As he drives home through stormy weather, he has a car accident that leaves him in a coma. Awakening under the care of neurologist Dr. Sam Weizak, Johnny learns that five years have passed, and Sarah is now a married mother.
Johnny discovers that he has gained the ability to psychically see aspects of people's lives (past, present, and future) through physical contact. As he touches a nurse's hand, he sees her daughter trapped in a fire. He also sees that Weizak's mother, long thought to have died during World War II, is still alive, and how a pushy reporter's sister committed suicide, hinting at abuse by his hand. With physical therapy, Johnny relearns to walk but retains a limp and must use a cane. Sarah reestablishes contact with him, but she is torn between her love for him and her family. They eventually drift apart.
As news of his gift spreads, Sheriff George Bannerman from the nearby Castle Rock asks Johnny for help with a series of murders. At first Johnny declines, but he eventually agrees to help. Through a vision at the crime scene, he discovers that deputy Frank Dodd is the killer. Before Bannerman can arrest him, Dodd commits suicide. Dodd's mother shoots Johnny, before being killed by Bannerman.
Johnny moves to a different town and lives a more isolated life as he grows physically weaker due to his psychic abilities. Despite Weizak's concerns, Johnny refuses further treatment. He tutors children, working from home. The wealthy Roger Stuart hires Johnny to tutor his son, Chris. Through Stuart, Johnny meets Greg Stillson, a superficially charismatic third-party candidate for the United States Senate, for whom Sarah and her husband, Walt, volunteer. Stuart warns Johnny that Stillson is dangerous.
Johnny receives a vision of Chris and two other boys drowning in a local pond during an ice hockey practice. He implores Stuart to change his plans, but he refuses and fires Johnny. Chris, however, stays home and lives, while the two other boys drown. Johnny realizes he has a "dead zone" in his visions, where the future is changeable.
At a political rally, Johnny shakes Stillson's hand and has a vision of Stillson as President ordering a pre-emptive nuclear strike and starting World War III, even rejecting a diplomatic solution. Johnny seeks out Weizak's advice, asking, for instance, if he would have killed Adolf Hitler if he had the chance, knowing beforehand the atrocities Hitler would commit. Weizak replies that he would have had no choice but to kill him. Johnny leaves Sarah a letter, telling her that what he is about to do will cost him his life, but is a worthwhile sacrifice.
Sarah and her family attend a rally for Stillson. Johnny also sneaks in with a rifle; he shoots at Stillson but misses. In the ensuing commotion, Stillson grabs Sarah's baby and holds him as a human shield, which a photographer captures on film. Before Johnny can fire again, he is shot by Stillson's bodyguard. Johnny touches Stillson's hand and foresees that, after the photograph is developed, becomes the front page of Magazines and Newspapers throughout the country, causing Stillson's career to end in disgrace and he commits suicide, thus averting the nuclear attack. Johnny lies dying as Sarah embraces him and tells him that she loves him.
Cast[]
- Johnny Smith - Christopher Walken
- Sarah Bracknell - Brooke Adams
- George Bannerman - Tom Skerritt
- Greg Stillson - Martin Sheen
- Frank Dodd - Nicholas Campbell
- Walt Hazlett - Barry Flatman
