The Dead Zone (2002) movie review

In 2002 USA network turned Stephen King's classic story into a television series staring Anthony Michael Hall. What I watched today is the feature length pilot episode of that series. I will say it right now, I have no desire to ever watch any more of the series. The series was also never finished as it was cancelled after 6 seasons. The film starts off similar to the original film, though there is immediately some differences. I do like that the scene at the carnival is much closer to how King wrote it in the book. The story starts off by following a similar story line as the original film, but it starts going far off into its own direction that neither the book or the original film went to. The way that this pilot episode sets up the show, it seems like it is going to be another crime solving show. A lot of the characters changed drastically, like Sarah is married to sheriff Bannerman, Johnny's dad isn't in this even though he was a big part of the original movie and the book, and Johnny's mother is dating a con-man preacher. The story in this pilot episode basically goes up to the solving of the murders of the girls in Castle Rock. I get that this is the pilot episode for a television show, but the acting is terrible, and unbelievable, the look of the film just looks really cheap and poorly made. The only actor that is at all decent is Nicole De Boer that played Sarah. I really can't think of much else to say about this one, other than it was just hugely disappointing. Would I recommend this film? Nope, just skip it, it is just a disappointment.