If you happen to have a copy of The Dead Zone, or if your local library has a copy, you might find this interesting.

I was just re-reading The Dead Zone this weekend, and in Chapter 21, Section 3 (each chapter is subdivided into numbered sections), there are a few paragraphs that make me think of the movie Dreamscape. They are on page 317, in my edition. They describe Johnny Smith's visions of the world after Greg Stillson is elected, which is a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The book is a little different from the movie, it doesn't have that scene where he's standing there with that other senior government guy and they press The Button together. In the book, Johnny foresees Stillson getting sworn in by a very scared-looking elderly Justice of the Supreme Court, and then he sees a desolate wasteland with "twisted metal, fused glass, and scorched earth." Also, there is the image of a single headlight, in a tunnel... it reminds me of the president's nightmare in Dreamscape, where he envisions the world after a nuclear war, which he has caused. In Dreamscape, the president is riding on a train, and he sees the horrifying ruined world all around him... I think the train even goes into a tunnel. The image of a tunnel is presented on page 317 in Dead Zone, and although it doesn't specify a train, a train is suggested by the image of a single onrushing headlight. Aha, Stephen King mentions a "black engine of doom"... could be a train, or not... judgement call.

Anyway, I wonder if that passage was one of the inspirations for Dreamscape? They made it the president's nightmare, not a psychic's vision, and they fooled around a little with the idea of the train, but doesn't it seem like there could be a connection?

Had to share.