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44 years after it was first released, Stephen King's long-forgotten sci-fi thriller will soon stream for free. As well as being one of the most successful authors in history, Stephen King's movie adaptations haven't done too badly either. The likes of IT, Misery, Stand By Me, The Long Walk, The Mist, The Shining, and many, many more are all considered classics, while The Shawshank Redemption is often cited as the greatest movie ever made. But, with such a vast library of work, it can be easy for some Stephen King films to fall through the cracks. Despite being helmed by one of the greatest horror directors of all time, Stephen King's 1983 sci-fi thriller is one such movie. But it's about to see a surge in popularity as it heads for free streaming.
Directed by none other than David Cronenberg, Stephen King's The Dead Zone is headed to Tubi. Based on King's novel of the same name, The Dead Zone was adapted for the screen by Cronenberg and Jeffrey Boam, with a fantastic cast, including Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Tom Skerritt, Brooke Adams, Ken Pogue, and David Rigby. The Dead Zone has bounced between various streaming platforms over the past decade, but its latest might be its best. The Dead Zone will make its way to Tubi, the ad-supported, free streaming platform, on Aug 1.
Like several good Stephen King stories, The Dead Zone centers around a car accident. Christopher Walken plays Johnny Smith, a teacher who wakes up from a five-year coma with a mysterious power: he can see someone's future when he touches them. His partner has moved on in the past five years. When he sees that her new husband plans to run for president, he does everything he can to stop him.
'The Dead Zone' Is Roger Ebert Approved
The Dead Zone is one of Stephen King's best-reviewed movies. It holds an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score, putting it on par with The Shawshank Redemption. Only Gerald's Game, 1922, and the original Carrie hold higher scores. But it's not just your bog-standard critics who enjoyed the film; The Dead Zone received the seal of approval from Roger Ebert himself.
The late, great film critic bestowed the movie with a 3.5/4-star rating. "The Dead Zone does what only a good supernatural thriller can do: It makes us forget it is supernatural," his review began. Ebert compared it to Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, saying, "it tells its story so strongly through the lives of sympathetic, believable people that we not only forgive the gimmicks, we accept them."
'The Dead Zone' Book Was Once Banned
Book banning has a long and dark history in America, and several of Stephen King's novels have been caught in the crossfire throughout the writer's career. After its publication, The Dead Zone was added to the banned books list in several public schools in Florida and Utah in 1992. Stephen King famously addressed the ban in a column for Bangor Daily News. The writer hilariously just advocated for people to buy the banned book instead.
