“The Long Walk,” directed by Francis Lawrence, is a newly released thriller film, first hitting theatres on September 12, 2025.

“The Long Walk” originated as a 1979 horror book by Stephen King. The book was received very well, critically acclaimed, and a must-read.

The author, Stephen King, is most known for his horror novels, mainly focusing on supernatural events, dystopian worlds, and the dark elements of human psychology. Some of his most popular works engaging with these topics include “The Shining,” “It,” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”

Stephen Kings novels each have complex and intriguing plots that serve for both novels and movies. Similar to his other work, “The Long Walk” is a horror movie set in a dystopian world.

The movie follows an annual contest held by the U.S. government called “The Long Walk.”  This consists of one hundred boys being selected to follow a route, maintaining the speed of four miles per hour. If a boy can not keep up his endurance, he gets killed.

The single boy out of the hundred who survives wins a large prize of his choosing. The boy’s desire for this reward represents human greed and the extent to which some are willing to go, not having any regard for others.

The main character, Ray, played by Cooper Hoffman, changes as the movie progresses, showing his disapproval of the walk but his reluctance to stop walking once he learns he must. Ray befriends another boy on the walk, Pete, played by David Jonsson, and the two form a close connection. As their friendship builds, the tension of only one surviving does too. As the strength of their friendship builds, the tension for the audience does as well, knowing that only one of them can survive.

While the competition plays out, the boys and their interactions reflect different aspects of the human experience, encountering friendships, moral dilemmas, sabotage, and, in the end, death.

The special effects in the movie were custom-made, with specific cameras and individual makeup artists to enhance the visual experience.

Getting to see this in theaters was a very emotional and intense experience. Following the boys’ experiences kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering who was going to survive and be the winner. Seeing contestants get shot left tears in my eyes and a pit in my stomach, building the intensity up until the end. Despite trying not to get attached to certain characters, I could not stop myself from getting hurt when they died.

Overall, “The Long Walk” was a tough watch that has stayed with me for weeks since I’d seen it. The mix of Stephen King’s horrific style, incorporating psychological torture, as well as the beautiful parts of human nature, made it heartfelt on multiple levels.