The Dead Zone (1983)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1983
Running Time	99:28 (Case: 103)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	David Cronenberg
Studio Distributor	Infogrames	Starring	Christopher Walken Brooke Adams Tom Skerritt Herbert Lom Anthony Zerbe Colleen Dewhurst Martin Sheen
Case	?
RPI	$32.95	Music	Michael Kamen

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Driving home, the weather is terrible with visibility severely reduced by the conditions. As he approaches the top of a rise, Johnny sees a milk tanker trailer on its side sliding down the road. With no time to react, he slams into the back portion of the tanker and is severely injured. He is taken to hospital where Sarah visits him. She finds him in a deep coma from which he shows no sign of emerging. Johnny is eventually moved to a special clinic for long term coma patients, run by Dr. Sam Weizak (Herbert Lom). Finally, Johnny awakes only to find that 5 years have elapsed. His job and his old life are gone. His beloved Sarah has married another man. The long coma has also taken its toll on his body and Johnny faces a long, painful battle to learn to walk again.

    While he is sleeping, a nurse enters to restock his room with clean linen. As she turns to leave she notices that Johnny is sweating heavily and places a damp towel on his forehead. At this point Johnny wakes suddenly and grabs her hand. He has a vision, a vision of a young girl trapped in a burning bedroom. He tells the nurse, "It's not too late. Your daughter is screaming. Hurry up!". The nurse rushes home to find her house on fire, but fortunately her daughter is saved. Johnny again has a vision while shaking hands with Dr. Weizak. In this vision, he sees a young boy placed in a horse-drawn cart while the German army advances. The boy is Dr. Weizak and Johnny tells the Doctor that he knows that his mother survived the war and is living in America. Weizak is sceptical but Johnny gives him her name and address and tells him to look her up. Weizak looks up her phone number and rings her. She comes to the phone but he doesn't speak to her. He tells Johnny that he couldn't do it "as it wasn't meant to be".

   The media hears of Johnny's ability and so he decides to call a news conference to clear the air and put to rest any speculation about him. During the conference, one reporter pushes him for a demonstration of his ability and so Johnny asks him to sit next to him. He takes the man's hand and offers to tell him why his sister committed suicide. The reporter, shocked and angered that his stunt has back-fired on him, pushes Johnny away and calls him a freak. This particular news conference is on local television and his mother Vera (Jackie Burroughs) is so upset by what she sees that it causes her to have a stroke. Johnny visits her in hospital where she dies while he is with her.

    Finally released from the clinic, Johnny moves in with his lonely father Herb (Sean Sullivan) where he hopes to live quietly and rebuild his life. Alas for Johnny, his ability will once again bring sorrow into his life and will ultimately lead him to a confrontation with a charismatic, ambitious and dangerous man.

    This movie is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. It is, in my opinion, one of King's best efforts. A sad, pain-filled and yet touching story of a brave man cursed with an ability that could be a blessing but brings him nothing but despair. The movie is generally faithful to the book and is one of the better film adaptations of a King novel.

    I really enjoyed this film. It is perhaps a thinking man's horror movie in that it isn't filled with graphic violence, but rather it shows how this good man is cursed by his ability to see the evil in men's souls. He continues to help people despite the negative impact this has on himself physically and his life in general.

Video

    The sharpness of this transfer is generally good, especially after the 18 minute mark. Before this point, the transfer is still good but is less detailed than that which follows. There is also one minor sequence where Johnny Smith is in a scene with Dr. Weizak. Both have close up shots of them as they talk. The period 56:56-57:19 shows that the close ups of Johnny are softer than those of Dr. Weizak. This continues until close to the end of scene when the camera angle changes and the next image of Johnny is much improved. Apart from these minor problems, the following time periods show just how pleasing the sharpness of this transfer can be; 69:41-70:25 and 87:25-87:48. Edge enhancement has been used and is noticeable at times. I've noted some examples for you to view for yourselves. See 03:06-03:12, 04:12-04:16, 11:52-12:15 and the last example at 41:19-41:54. The black level in this film is very good and the amount of shadow detail is fine.

    The colour saturation in this transfer is very good especially when you consider the age of the source material. Strong colours, such as the red top worn by Sarah in one scene, are clear and strong without being overpowering and skin tones are excellent. Some may find the colour a little subdued but it is worth noting that this film is set during winter and the skies are nearly always overcast. This would definitely knock back the contrast which would also subdue the colour a little.

    MPEG artefacts are present in this transfer, in the form of the Gibb effect on the less bold lines of the closing credits. Aliasing occurs frequently but is for the most part fairly minor. I've noted some of the more obvious occurrences for you to consider; 09:57-10:08, 25:08-25:12 and 33:14-33:20. Film artefacts are quite common and occur throughout the film. They are noticeable but not distracting. Some examples can be seen at 00:22-02:40, 03:00-03:03 and 14:24-14:30.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This remastered audio transfer is a solid effort that adds some presence and life to the dated fidelity of the source material.

   Dialogue is always clear and always in sync but there are times where it is clear the audio used was inserted during post production. One example is during the fire scene (15:47-15:51) where Amy's mouth is moving but the soundtrack carries a continuous scream.

    The score for this film is by Michael Kamen. It is generally appropriate, although at times I thought he used horror themes for scenes that were more dramatic than scary. It is mixed into the surrounds which adds to its presence.

    I thought this remastered soundtrack was a solid but patchy effort. I've noted several examples of good surround use. These can be found at 04:04-04:42, 05:31-07:10, 07:18-07:23, 15:16-16:06, 17:02-18:17, 73:58-74:13 and 81:38-82:14. At other times, the soundfield collapses with only dialogue clearly evident from the centre channel. Nevertheless, I felt that this was a good audio track that breathed just a little more life into the film.

   The subwoofer is used  to support effects as well as the score. Its use is totally appropriate and well balanced. Good examples of this can be found at  06:19-06:24 and 17:12-18:17.

    The Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track is also a solid effort but lacks the extra fidelity and dimension offered by the 5.1 version.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Original Theatrical Trailer (02:15)

Menu Audio and Animation

   The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on:

• Nothing

• A French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio track
• English Subtitles
• Full-frame version of the film

    The video transfer is solid and free from any serious defects.

    This audio transfer breathes new life into a soundtrack that would otherwise be lacking in fidelity and interest.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall