Best one-liner: "The ICE... is...gonna... BREAK!!!"
1. Melancholy Horror.
Readers of the site have heard me pontificate at length on the joys– er, I suppose I mean
sorrows– of
melancholy horror, which is probably my favorite of all the horror sub-genre classifications that I've pulled out of my ass across the years. While this is a touch late in the game to qualify as Golden Age Melancholy Horror (1969-1981), it sure fits. The mood is pensive, our hero unravels in misery. The soundtrack, by Michael "LETHAL WEAPON & DIE HARD" Kamen even follows suit– it's downcast and quotes Tchaikovsky on occasion.
The imagery is wintry and despondent (as Canadian locations are wont to be). The color palette is delicate, the spaces vacant, the trees barren.
I might just have Seasonal Affective Disorder, also known as "SAD," or "winter depression." I think I'll mount a one-man campaign to have it colloquially renamed "The Dead Zone Blues."
2. Kronenberg Kronies.
This one could easily also be called "The Villains of VIDEODROME Reunion Tour."
We got Les Carlson ("Barry Convex" from VIDEODROME) as a man being politically intimidated by Martin Sheen. (And behind him is Géza Kovács, who played an assassin in SCANNERS.)
And then there's Peter Dvorsky ("Harlan" from VIDEODROME) as a sleazy reporter named Dardis.
An interesting side note is that in the novel, it's a sleazy reporter from fictional rag mag INSIDE VIEW named Richard Dees who comes to harass our hero, and he later shows up as the protagonist in a Stephen King short story called "The Night Flier," hunting down an exclusive about a Cessna-piloting vampire. This short story was later made into a 1997 film starring Miguel Ferrer as Dees, which I'll review one of these days. Miguel Ferrer (ROBOCOP, TRAFFIC, "Albert Rosenfield" on TWIN PEAKS) made for a fantastic sleazebag, but I'm going to go ahead and pretend that Dvorksy here is
also playing Dees, as I feel like there's a spiritual connection between the unsavory acting choices of Dvorsky and Ferrer.
3. The Collars.
How ya like your collars? Popped? I sure hope so.
We could probably call this thing "THE POPPED COLLAR ZONE." And I'd be fine with that.
4. Shit-Eatin' Sheen.
It doesn't happen often these days, but I love Martin Sheen as a villain. He gives a brilliant, disturbing performance as a child molester in another melancholy horror flick, THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE, and here he taps into the same realm of performance as a sociopath enamored by the power he lords over others.
Kind of prefiguring his far more benevolent politician on THE WEST WING, he imbues the role with an incredible polish. He probably could have been a
real politician. Gone is the immature, animalistic villainy called for in BADLANDS, this character's a far darker, rational fellow.
He's got a pretty fantastic crazy-eye, as well:
5. Strong Imagery.
I revisited THE DEAD ZONE this week, but I had seen it once previously, probably around the age of ten or eleven. I didn't remember a great deal about it, but what stuck in my mind (and vague spoilers follow) was the vivid, haunting imagery of some of Walken's psychic episodes. I still remembered, as if I had seen it yesterday, the shots of children breaking through the ice and plunging into frigid waters:
and the scenes of Sheen in his presidential bunker, contemplating World War III:
It's understated, but incredibly well done. Cronenberg can play ya like a piano even without the sensationalism of flesh pods and Brundleflies and VHS vaginas!
6. Walken's Psychic Episodes.
I already mentioned the strong imagery which accompanies them, but when Walken's in the midst of it, uttering something like "The ICE... is...gonna... BREAK!!!," you are
there with him. It's nearly "overacting," but Walken is so present, so connected to the material that you simply have no choice but to believe his performance.
Also, though I usually am not the greatest fan of parodies, Walken's lampooning of his DEAD ZONE role re-imagined as "Ed Glosser, Trivial Psychic" on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE is
well worth your time.
7. George Bannerman.
In the novels of Stephen King, much attention is paid to the details of the fictional community of Castle Rock (among others), and one of the markers for chronology becomes the succession of sheriffs in the town. Bannerman is only a Constable back in THE BODY (the basis for STAND BY ME), gets promoted to Sheriff, plays large and memorable roles in THE DEAD ZONE and CUJO, and he's mentioned in passing even in novels that take place after his time. Then he's replaced by Alan Pangborn (who's been depicted on screen by Michael Rooker and Ed Harris) who plays a major role in THE DARK HALF and NEEDFUL THINGS. Anyway, what I'm saying is that King lends great verisimilitude to his fictional locales, and he does it so well, that you're looking forward to seeing how even minor characters will be depicted. Bannerman was portrayed the same year in CUJO by Sandy Ward (THE ROCKFORD FILES, POLICE ACADEMY 2, THE PERFECT STORM), and while he does a fine job, Tom Skerritt is sort of exactly who you'd imagine from the page.
It's a fairly minor role here, but he lends it a genuine credibility. We find Walken's psychic nature far easier to swallow as an audience because it plays so realistically off of Skerritt's skepticism (and eventual belief).
8. The SLEEPY HOLLOW connection.
Early in the film, when he's still a (relatively) carefree schoolteacher, Walken assigns his class to read Washington Irving's THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW.
Little did he know, I'm sure, that some sixteen years later, he'd be
playing the Headless Horseman himself.
Note the popped collar, however. Some things never change, I suppose! Four stars.
-Sean Gill
