Stephen King's The Dead Zone: Special Collector's Edition DVD Review

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Title: Stephen King’s The Dead Zone: Special Collector’s Edition

Region: One

Genre: Drama

Stars: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Anthony Zerbe, Colleen Dewhurst, Nicholas Campbell, and Martin Sheen

Writer: Jeffrey Boam

Based On The Novel By: Stephen King

Director: David Cronenberg

Feature length: 103 minutes

Extras: Memories From The Dead Zone, The Look Of The Dead Zone, Visions From The Dead Zone, The Politics Of The Dead Zone, Theatrical Trailer, Previews

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Surround 2.0 and French Mono

Subtitles: English Closed Captions and English Subtitles

Packaging: Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 16

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo Surround Sound and Mono Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 1983/DVD Release: 2006

Theatrical Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

There have been critics who have described David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone as the best cinematic adaptation of Stephen King bar none. I am not sure if this is true because I have not read enough Stephen King to make that call, but I will say it is among the best film adaptations of a King novel ever made and it is also one of David Cronenberg's best films.

The film shows a remarkable amount of restraint on Cronenberg's part and it shows that not only can Mr. Cronenberg direct films without any real gore, but that the Canadian Auteur has a heck of a lot more of a grasp for filmmaking and in particular presenting this visual version of King's novel with such great care and perhaps more faithful than people have given him credit for. On the part of Stephen King as an Author, the film seems to follow the classic paradigm where the most fantastic things can occur in the most unlikely of places and through unforeseen circumstances. Just watch The Green Mile and see a miracle occur in the most unlikely place with the most unexpected results. To coin the cliché phrase, "The Lord moves through mysterious ways," seems to play an important part in King's stories.

Another comparison between The Green Mile and The Dead Zone is that both feature characters given gifts of extraordinary power and both characters through most of the story do not know why this has happened to them and have some reservation about using it in the modern world. Christopher Walken delivers a great performance of a schoolteacher who awakes from a five-year coma to find life has passed him by, but left him with an amazing ability for foresight and empathy. Reluctant to use his powers after discovering them accidentally, eventually his character is forced to make a critical decision at the crossroads of humanity's future. The dead zone is that area where one can change the outcome of the future, but to what consequence is uncertain. As Johnny’s gift grows more powerful, his Doctor (Herbert Lom) discovers through research that people with this ability grow physically weaker. Thus this gift or curse depending on one’s point of view becomes an affliction for Smith on both a physical, emotional, and mental level.

The film also features good supporting roles by Herbert Lom, Tom Skerritt, Anthony Zerbe, and Martin Sheen as a psychotic senatorial hopeful with an eye on the Presidency. Screenwriter Jeffrey Boam manages to keep the story going at a brisk pace without having it feel rushed and Cronenberg's direction is excellent.

Paramount Home Entertainment’s DVD edition of The Dead Zone features an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio presentation. Originally released on a movie-only DVD in 2000, this new Special Collector’s Edition seems clearer with less grain. The skin tones seem more natural and the subdued look of the film never appears to take away from the brooding winter settings. It might be one of the best looking and yet somber feeling theatrical adaptation of a Stephen King book ever produced. I think this DVD definitely looks better than the original. A full and ambient English Dolby Digital 5.1 Soundtrack and a very natural English Dolby Surround 2.0 Soundtrack are encoded on to this DVD along with a Two-Channel French Mono track and English Closed Captions for the Hearing Impaired as well as English Subtitles are encoded on to the DVD as options too.

The theatrical trailer is also presented in a 16 by 9 enhanced widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio. The new extra value features are all presented in a (1.33:1) letterboxed aspect ratio and are basically a series of featurettes that collectively become one documentary. Memories From The Dead Zone (12:18) features new video interviews with David Cronenberg and Actress Brooke Adams as well as Critic, Author, and Biographer Douglas E. Winter, who discusses the state of King’s mind during the writing of the book, which after the major successes he had encountered from The Stand, The Shining, and Salem’s Lot seemed pivotal to him that his next book would have to be something different and less of a horror story as much as it should be a human drama. The pressure King felt to deliver another bestseller also gave him a state of writer’s block I guess. He put down the manuscript half way through writing the novel and began writing what would become Firestarter before finally getting the inspiration he needed to return and finished writing The Dead Zone and then he went on with Firestarter and both would become big hits. Cronenberg was looking to direct something very different from the last film he had directed, which was based on his own original screenplay Videodrome. The Dead Zone would be the first film he would direct that was not based on an original screenplay or story he created. After reading various scripts written, Cronenberg felt Jeffrey Boam’s adaptation captured the essence of the novel. The rest of the featurette covers impressions of working with Christopher Walken from both Cronenberg and Actress Brooke Adams. I thought Cronenberg’s personal view of adapting fiction into film was particularly interesting. To paraphrase, he thinks that books are books and films are films and if you expect a film to be an exact copy of the book then you will be disappointed so he never tries to adapt a book that is a word for word translation so much as to capture the fundamental nature of the novel in a visual way. Considering the success Cronenberg has had adapting fiction into films like The Naked Lunch and the 1997 film Crash (Not to be mixed up with the Oscar winning film from 2005), I think it is hard not to agree with Cronenberg in some respect.

The Look Of the Dead Zone (9:23) covers the on-location Canadian towns and vistas used in what would be the first feature film to portray King’s fictional town of Castle Rock. The cinematography of Mark Irwin is discussed too. Visions From The Dead Zone covers what is the only real gory moment from the film, which is the self execution with scissors the Castle Rock killer performs in the bathroom, which was Cronenberg’s idea since in the book Cronenberg states the guy just slits his throat or something. Cronenberg even gives an on the spot psychological profile for the killer and his relationship to his mother that I was quite impressed with because it shows just how creative Cronenberg can be. The last featurette The Politics Of The Dead Zone (11:32) explores the uneasy questions the film raises as well as a coda that was ultimately unused as well as Michael Kamen’s underlying score.

Previews for the 40^th anniversary of Star Trek on DVD as well as The 4400: The Complete Second Season wrap up the extra value materials on the disc. The menus are standard interactive still frames and are easy to navigate. This is a fine DVD release that I think fans will be very pleased with. Stephen King’s The Dead Zone: Special Collector’s Edition is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment.

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