Like other boxed sets of Stephen King movies from various studios, this four disc set from Paramount is a mixed bag. There's a truly great one, a couple that are pretty good, and one that totally sucks shit. All have been released before, and while the picture & sound of these four movies is more or less the same, both "Pet Sematary" & "The Dead Zone" are Collector's Editions with new bonus features. If nothing else, this is another great opportunity to get four King films all at once.

"The Dead Zone" (A) is far and away the best movie in the collection, and probably one of the five best King adaptations ever. Not so much a horror film as a tragedy with supernatural overtones, is features Christopher Walken (in an Oscar worthy performance) as Johnny Smith, who awakens from a five year coma with the ability to see peoples future by touching them. But not only can he see future events, he has the opportunity to change them. Aside from the tremendous cast, it's also first movie where director David Cronenberg showed he could do more than shock his audience with repellant imagery. It's probably his most emotionally stirring piece of work to date, which in some ways, surpasses King's novel. "Pet Sematary" (B) tries for a similar tone at first, establishing all its characters so we have a stake in their fates, but ultimately becomes a morbid freak show. Based on one of King's darkest novels (though far from his scariest), the film sees the Creed family moving into a country home located near an ancient Indian burial ground with the power to resurrect the recently dead. After the Creed's 2-year old son is flattened by a truck, grieving father Lewis (Dale Midkiff) buries him there, only to find out that when the dead come back, they are murderous psychos. The film's first half is actually quite good. It's atmospheric, decently acted and does a good job building a feeling of dread in the audience. Right from the get-go, we just know something awful is gonna happen to this family. But when it does, the film starts losing its dramatic footing, becoming suddenly exploitative. While there's nothing wrong with exploitation, the movie threatens to become a joyless experience when we see a toddler get plowed by a truck. It does recover nicely to offer some nasty thrills on its way to a giddy climax that's a goofy as it is brutal. "Silver Bullet" (C+), based on King's novella, "Cycle of the Werewolf," is strictly minor-league horror, the kind of movie you start to forget soon after watching it. It's a fairly straightforward werewolf tale, the lone novelty being our hero is a wheelchair-bound adolescent (Corey Haim). But it does have some nice touches of warmth & humor, and features good performances, especially Gary Busey, who's actually quite subdued here (for him, anyway). "Graveyard Shift" (F) falls into the 'sucks shit' category of King adaptations, right down there with "Children of the Corn" & "The Mangler." Too bad, really, because the original short story is one of King's creepiest. This is a low budget howler in which mutant rats are offing workers at a recently re-opened mill. The script is awful, the characters are silly and, worst of all, the special effects are laughable.

None of these movies have been remastered - there's a scratch or blemish to be found here and there - but the overall picture isn't too bad on any of them, with decent black tones and fairly sharp lines. "Graveyard Shift" probably sports the muddiest image, but the original movie didn't look all that great, anyway. "Dead Zone," "Pet Sematary" & "Graveyard Shift" are rendered in 5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Surround, while "Silver Bullet" features only a mono track (and, of course, sounds worse than the others).

"The Dead Zone" & "Pet Sematary" feature new bonus material, and while it mostly consists of retrospective interviews, King fans should enjoy wading through it (though the only time King himself shows up is in old interview footage). "The Dead Zone" features four featurettes - mostly interviews - about the movie's production, casting and it's so-called political slant. Not surprisingly, of the numerous interviews, David Cronenberg is the most interesting, since he kind of made the story his own. It's too bad he didn't do an audio commentary for this one. "Pet Sematary" has one, though, by director Mary Lambert, who offers a lot of interesting info, though tends to overstate the importance of her film. Other features include three shorts about King, the film's characters & casting, and the production itself. Both "Graveyard Shift" & "Silver Bullet" are bare bones discs, which I suppose is just as well.

This set is probably worth it for "Dead Zone" & "Pet Sematary" alone. However, the Collector's Editions of those films are also available separately, meaning this four disc set from Paramount is of primary interest to Stephen King completists. The set is nicely packaged, and like other boxes of King films, you get the good, the bad & the ugly, further testament to the varying quality of his movie ever since "Carrie." Recommended.