Skip to contentSkip to navigation
The Dead Zone (VOA)
Location
Main screening room
Date
February 10th, 2022
Admission
13+ (Violence)
Duration
103 min
Cycle
Cronenberg: Through a Distorting Mirror

David Cronenberg has created a multidimensional universe in which he insistently questions the limits of every facet of the human condition – physical, moral and existential. This program extends from his early days in Montreal, where he made exploitation flicks produced by Cinépix (Rabid, Shivers), to Maps to the Stars, a scathing take on the California jet-set lifestyle. A creepy parallel universe emerges through films like The Fly, which catapulted him to mainstream success, and eXistenZ, in which it seems perfectly normal to plug an organic game console into one’s spine. This is inside-out cinema, in which unique beings constantly show us funhouse-mirror reflections of our world. This program includes all of Cronenberg’s features, most of them in 35 mm.

The Dead Zone
Directed by
David Cronenberg
Language
VOA
Actors
Brooke Adams, Christopher Walken, Tom Skerritt
Origins
USA
Year
1983
Duration
103 min
Genre
Drama , horror, science-fiction
Rating
13+ (Violence)
Format
Digital
Synopsis

Following a car accident, Johnny Smith, a young teacher in a small provincial town, spends five years in a coma. When he finally wakes up, he realizes his fiancée did not wait for him and he has lost his teaching job. He then discovers a gift for psychics, visions appearing to him when he touches other people. He puts his new gift at the service of the community. One day, however, he is faced with a moral dilemma when he discovers the threat that awaits the world if a militaristic Republican becomes President of the United States...

The Dead Zone
Awards

David Cronenberg

David Paul Cronenberg is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infection, technology, and the intertwining of the psychological with the physical. In the first third of his career he explored these themes mostly through horror and science fiction films such as Scanners (1981) and Videodrome (1983), although his work has since expanded beyond these genres. Cronenberg's films have polarized critics and audiences alike; he has earned critical acclaim and has sparked controversy for his depictions of gore and violence. The Village Voice called him "the most audacious and challenging narrative director in the English-speaking world". His films have won numerous awards, including, for Crash, the Special Jury Prize at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, a unique award that is distinct from the Jury Prize as it is not given annually, but only at the request of the official jury, who in this case gave the award "for originality, for daring, and for audacity".

Explore

« [...] Dans Dead Zone, Cronenberg prend ses distances avec le pathologique gluant (quitte à y revenir par la suite) pour exprimer de façon plus simple et directe notre rapport à la fiction, c’est à dire sur un mode purement psychique. Dans cette optique c’est une réussite, car Cronenberg suggère beaucoup plus qu’il ne montre, tout en conservant certains raccourcis de série B. Par exemple, lorsque la mère de Johnny est victime d’une attaque qui va l’emporter, il suffit d’un plan sur son visage animé d’un rictus assez grotesque. Idem pour le suicide d’un serial killer, montré en quelques plans élémentaires, presque des images figées. Dans cette mesure, Dead Zone surpasse le cinéma hollywoodien, auquel Cronenberg commence à s’intégrer. [...] »
Vincent Ostria
Les Inrockuptibles (2017)
Full cast
About David Cronenberg
Filmography | director
Filmography | actor
Studies
Open