Hello everybody and welcome back to another patron episode of 80s all over and I'm joined by my friend Drew McGetti ready to rumble McQueenie. That is my actual legal name.

It is. And we are here to do an audio commentary slash 90 minute discussion for a film that is near and dear to both of our hearts. Drew, why don't you do the honors? I'm very excited. Today we are doing the Dead Zone by David Cronenberg. And if you have the film, Scott's gonna tell you how to sync it up. Yeah, right now we have the film paused on the Paramount screen. It says Paramount, Gulf Western. And when I count down from three, you're just gonna hit play and we're gonna go from there. So three, two, one, play. All right, yeah, I'm excited. What do you know about Paramount pictures Drew talk about Paramount Paramount was at this point that now talk about Dean of Taylor Redtis drew talk about him So Dino D. Laurentus was at this point now the dead zone. Let's talk about him I'm sorry. Where do we start Drew? Where do we want to start? Well, I think I think we should start with Dilerentis. Because at this point, he was trying to figure out how to make the jump from being thought of as kind of a schlock producer who had had some big budget junk into actually a producer who's going to build a long-term sustainable body of work. And Dino Dilerentis Productions was up and running. And I think he was really trying to carve out a new reputation for himself and part of that was in reaching out for better material and in hiring better people and you know I can't knock Dino for his hustle. And I know we're both familiar with John Belushi's impression of Dino D. Laurenti's and I think a lot of people, that's how they thought of him in the late 70s, as this crazy sort of exploitation guy who was spending a ton of money on stuff. But the Dead Zones are really well put together movie. And it went through a lot of early production stuff that it wasn't necessarily gonna be this film. And I'm delighted that it is because this film is great. I love this opening credit sequence how the title slowly morse out and in the background is this beautiful pastoral landscape. This is the titles here were done by a company called our Greenberg associates and they were same for yeah, they were famous for stuff like alien and states. They did these beautiful title sequences that were old fashioned optical titles. And almost every one of the ones they did you remember because they are so distinct like this. I agree with you. This is one of my favorites. And the moment you realize what they're doing, the first time you see it, you're like, oh I adore this movie I had been a Krona Berg fan like you before this was even out I didn't know much of his work but I believe by that point I didn't see this in theaters I saw this probably 8586 on VHS and by that point I was already crazy in love with the brood and scanners, and I'm pretty sure I'd seen video drum by that point. So just the idea of Kronaburg Plus King. Well, this is very enticing. Yeah, and this was important for him because video drum while we love it, and I know we talked about it on the, you know, a couple of times during the 82 episodes, video drum was a disaster for him, and a real step back in terms of what he could get made, because that was his universal movie, that was his giant, I'm gonna prove that I can bring this Cronenberg thing that I do to the mainstream. It's just so easy to admire Cronenberg for that though, because you and I are both screenwriters of a sort, and if somebody, if we made video drum, we'd consider that like a giant win. And then, you know, it's considered kind of a backdoor win because it didn't really make a lot of money and didn't at the time. I think that everybody who supported and bankrolled video drone is probably happy about it now. Yeah, but at the time they took a hit and and Cronenberg, I think, you know, like Carpenter, then kind of had to struggle to figure out, okay, well, what's next? And I think it's interesting. Both guys used Stephen King as a sort of way to get grounded again. And Stephen King right now, this is 83. Stephen King's still kind of untainted in terms of film.

It's gone very well for Stephen King so far by this point. Yeah, we'll get to the history in a minute. That's my favorite topics. Here is Christopher Walken in a rare lead performance. He's fantastic. What else did we see him in a lead? Oh, dogs of war. He was a lead in that. I don't know if I love his haircut right here, but you know, he's supposed to look at the ball.

I like that.

I like that he's nerdy, Johnny Smith.

If he is small town teacher. he was a lead in that. Yeah. I don't know if I love his haircut right here, but you know, he's supposed to look like a dog.

I like that.

I like that he's nerdy, Johnny Smith.

Yeah.

Small town teacher, nothing cool about him.

And man, we talked about this.

Chris walking absolutely terrific choice.

There's something haunted about him

that works in this film.

Stephen King was nuts though.

The ideas like for who he wanted I I read this in Fingoria recently and I cannot get my head around it his number one choice for this movie if King Could have casted himself Bill Murray was the guy that he wanted more than anybody and that's who he saw in his head I can't picture that movie Bill Murray is Johnny Smith in 1983 picture pre-ghostbusters Bill Murray as Johnny Smith. I just accidentally hit back on my remote so now I'm 10 seconds behind everyone else looking at book atoms smiling on a roller coaster What a face she has look at her eyes. I love that eye trick. She does in Body snatchers. She does that with her eyes where she they wiggle squiggle back and forth. Yeah She's got great eyes. She's got, she's just a very

good actor, very earthy. She seems like a great match for him in this film too. Yes, very like, I don't want to, I don't mean it in a bad way, but like small town kind of, you know, quiesciate librarian, but then she's a smart, sweet woman, but you know, you want to do the shorthand with these characters and make them likable as quickly as you can.

And that's not difficult with Brooks Adams.

I think that's another thing that this movie does really well that Kronenberg hadn't done up until this point. Kronenberg loved his weirdos He loved painting on the fringe like all of his movies before this whether it's rabid or Scanners or the brute their movies about people in the margins people who really weird and strange and broken. This movie opens in the most normal David Kronenberg world we have ever seen by this point. Yeah, yeah. And I love that because he does a nice job of painting why this life matters to Johnny before he loses it. You know, Drew, I, I watching this again and I, again, watched it like a month ago. Uh, I'm struck by the, the long term discussion of horror v thriller. And I know that you and I can't watch it like a month ago. I'm struck by the long term discussion of horror v thriller and I know that you and I both agree that they're all under the same umbrella. If somebody is trying to shock or thrill or make you feel suspense or intensity or fear or shock, that's some division of horror. And a lot of people now would watch a film like The Dead Zone and say, oh, it's definitely maybe a psychological thriller and a cult thriller, ESP, but I don't know given the nature of this movie if people would consider it a horror film or not. I think the ending of this film qualifies it as a horror film because it's from that era where people were still unafraid to leave you bummed out at the end of a horror film. And like invasion of the body snatchers and it's great to book Adamses in both of these, this movie gets to a place where there's an inevitability to the ending. It is a satisfying ending, but it is a phenomenal ending. It's a real bummer as it's interdependent. So the poetry that, you know, he sacrifices himself with the much, much greater good. So, but I think there's one thing I think. I think that is horrific about a guy who gets locked into through nothing he does on his own. This one awful night that he has gets locked into this path where he has to make that choice. So that's our point.

Well, when's the last time you read this novel? Do you recently or now? I read it probably about eight or nine years ago. And I was... Can you recall off the top of your head any major changes? The novel simply takes more time. The novel does a better job of sort of showing how hard it is for Johnny to reintegrate. I'll tell you what the novel was interesting

by my first exposure to this book.

When I fell in love. Novel does a better job of sort of showing how hard it is for Johnny to reintegrate. I'll tell you what the novel,

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