Sometimes life is stranger than fiction, but sometimes life just plain imitates fiction. The 1983 film The Dead Zone, directed by David Cronenberg (Scanners, The Fly, the film called Crash that is actually interesting), was adapted from a Stephen King novel by the same name, and may have predicted Donald Trump’s presidential bid. In The Dead Zone, a populist demagogue played by Martin Sheen is a little too remarkably similar to Trump — one of his lines: “Let’s send Greg Stillson to the United States Senate — and mediocrity to hell!” Outside of its predictions-turned-true, the story is about Johnny Smith (played by Christopher Walken), a teacher who wakes from a coma with prescient abilities. Walken’s performance as Johnny is excellent and horrifying, but not quite as scary as the thought of King novels coming true. AMANDA HAGGARD
David Cronenberg: The New Flesh — The Dead Zone
