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Cronenberg's cinema has been defined by the man himself as existentialist. An in-depth analysis of men and their human, physical, and mental change. Before The Dead Zone (1983), he had already tackled these themes in films like Scanners, Shivers, The Brood. All works stemming from his imagination, while for The Dead Zone, Cronenberg adapted the famous novel by Stephen King. For this choice, he could avail himself of a larger budget and universally recognized actors like Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen.
The dead zone is that often unused part of our brain that has the ability to perceive scenes or situations from other places. This is the ability acquired by Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) after a car accident that left him in a coma for five years and caused him various physical problems. Once the news of this "power" spreads, Johnny is frequently consulted by the townspeople and collaborates on a murder case where he is the absolute protagonist. Always because of his "mental power," he decides to take action against the politician Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen) after seeing the future that awaits all of humanity...
Cronenberg's feature film is, as usual, perfectly in his style: a rarefied and perpetually hostile atmosphere, loves lived always on the edge, mental problems, and typically thrilling scenes. However, perhaps the Hollywood choice did not allow the Canadian director to unleash all of his violence: the gory side so dear to Cronenberg is only hinted at in some sequences, and otherwise, it does not have the importance it has in a film like Videodrome. Moreover, although one must acknowledge the excellent filmic rendering, it is hard not to notice how the constraints dictated by the production company have impacted the film. The Dead Zone is indeed a product somewhat halfway between Cronenberg's cinematic credo and Hollywood's marketing. A problem reflected in the concatenation of disconnected events, which do not contribute to making the film smooth, whereas when a decisive narrative diagram is outlined (as in the last half hour), the film takes off sharply compared to a halting first part.
However, David Cronenberg's distinctive touch remains unmistakable, one of the greatest examiners of the human mind in cinema. This film of his only confirms and expands his concept of the "man in perpetual metamorphosis," making it clear from the start that the change is, in this case, internal to the protagonist and does not manifest with physical changes. This is why The Dead Zone remains a film very much in Cronenberg's style, despite some scattered flaws.
"Bless me? Do you know what God did for me? He threw an eighteen-wheeler at me, knocked me into oblivion for five years; when I woke up, my girl was gone, so was my job, and my legs were basically useless. Bless me? Yes, God has been a real benefactor to me..."
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