The Dead Zone

David Cronenberg
1983

This one's a little anomalous in Cronenberg's 80's output, the era in which he really hits his stride as an auteur. Not nearly as radical in terms of body-horror as either "Videodrome" (1983) or "The Fly" (1986), and not as genre-oriented as "Scanners" (1981), the film is closest to the cold otherworldliness of "Dead Ringers" (1988), but far more commercially viable. Christopher Walkin awakes after years in a coma to find his sweetheart has moved on. He soon realizes that he's able to see the past and future by making direct physical contact with those around him. Seen as both a crank and a local sensation Walkin uses his newfound ability to prevent tragedies and help the police apprehend a serial killer. This generally tight picture loses it's way after the first two acts, becoming mired in an expositional setup that could have been cultivated just as effectively early on - this is most likely the result of slavishly following Stephen King's source novel. For all it's accessibility Cronenberg's stamp shines through in clinical camerawork and distant performances. It may not be as extremely out-there as much of his other work, but it definitely fits snugly within the ouvre.