Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. 88
    The Dead Zone does what only a good supernatural thriller can do: It makes us forget it is supernatural.
  2. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    Arguably the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel.
  3. Reviewed by: Kim Newman
    It has some of that episodic ‘compressed miniseries’ feel which a lot of King pictures get stuck with (the book was later redone as a TV serial with Anthony Michael Hall) but still manages a lot of powerful material.
  4. A well-acted drama more eerie than terrifying, more rooted in the occult than in sheer horror.
  5. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    David Cronenberg turns The Dead Zone into an accomplished psychological thriller.
  6. Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    It never really chills you, but then it never insults you, either, and it's more affecting than you expect any film based on a Stephen King novel to be. [22 Oct 1983]
  7. The Dead Zone, from the book by Stephen King, a horror novelist whose prolific output is the scariest thing about him, is academic filmmaking all the way, a crafty Establishment tour de force. [21 Oct 1983]
  8. 50
    By no means a bad film, just a disappointingly bland and superficial one.
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 24 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Feb 28, 2014
    Unmatched thriller, one of the spookiest
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  2. Feb 28, 2014
    Astonishing thriller
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  3. Feb 28, 2014
    A startling classic
    Full Review »