The Dead Zone (1983 film) Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Raven

Johnny was reading the last part of "The Raven" aloud to his class. The poems's sense of mystery and supernatural set the tone for this suspenseful movie.

In the same scene, Johnny told his class that their next project would be "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", about "a schoolteacher who gets chased by a headless demon." This was more foreshadowing about what lay ahead for this popular teacher.

Answer: Carnival

Johnny and Sarah go to the local carnival on their date. It doesn't go as planned, as Johnny starts to feel strangely ill when they're on a roller coaster. It was because of this illness that they cut their date short and Johnny drove home in the rain.

In the novel upon which the movie was based, Johnny played a carnival wager game, and, against all odds, kept winning. It was Sarah who felt sick. Nonetheless, both versions of Johnny met the same fate that night.

Answer: Johnny was in a coma.

Driving in the rain that night, Johnny was seriously hurt in a major collision with a truck. The movie skipped ahead to Johnny waking up from a four-year coma. His parents and his neurologist broke the news to him about how much time had passed. He was heartbroken to learn that in that time Sarah had married someone else.

Answer: Nurse's child in a fire

When the nurse touched Johnny, he reacted by yelling her daughter's name, "Amy!" as he envisioned the girl in a home fire. The nurse got help immediately and the girl was saved. Now Johnny's gift was unleashed.

Soon after, he had a vision when the doctor touched him, too. He envisioned the doctor as a boy fleeing the Nazis and being separated from his mother.

Answer: Finding a serial killer

At first, Johnny wanted nothing to do with using his gift for anything, even helping the sheriff. But he changed his mind and went to the town of Castle Rock to view the crime scenes. While Johnny was in Castle Rock, another victim was discovered.

Answer: Sheriff's favorite deputy

Much to the Sheriff's horror, the killer was Frank Dodd, his favorite deputy. When Johnny and Sheriff Bannerman went to Dodd's house, Johnny touched Dodd's mother and learned telepathically that she'd known her son was a killer, and accused her of such. She said that Johnny had been sent by the devil. Before Dodd could be arrested, he killed himself in his bathroom. The mother came to a bad end, too.

Answer: Tutor

After the Castle Rock case, Johnny wanted to sequester himself from other people, having as little contact as possible in order to avoid having visions about them. He began tutoring out of his home.

Film critic Roger Ebert gave "The Dead Zone" positive reviews, with a special mention of Walken's portrayal of Johnny: "Walken does such a good job of portraying Johnny Smith, the man with the strange gift, that we forget this is science fiction or fantasy or whatever and just accept it as this guy's story."

Answer: A drowning

When envisioned the ice breaking under a hockey team's practice, Johnny told the father to cancel the practice. The father didn't want to, but the boy refused to go regardless. Later, we learned that two other players, who had gone to the practice, drowned.

Answer: He envisioned him starting a nuclear war.

When Johnny met a volatile political candidate named Greg Stillson, he had a vision of Stillson becoming President and starting a nuclear war. He struggled with his conscience at this point. He asked his doctor what he would do if he had had a chance to stop the atrocities of World War II but would have had to murder Hitler. Citing humanitarianism, the doctor said he would have no choice but to kill him, in order to save millions of other lives.

Answer: He self-destructs his career in a shoot-out

Stillson's political hopes blessedly ended with a horribly selfish public act. Johnny was prepared to shoot and kill Stillson at a rally, but when Stillson saw Johnny's rifle, he grabbed a baby and hid behind it. Photojournalists caught the image for the world to see. Security guards shot Johnny, but not before Johnny touched Stillson and saw him commit suicide. No war, but no Johnny.