2025 • Lionsgate
Rated: R
Length: 1 hr 48min
Horror ~ Psychological Thriller
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writer: Screenplay by JT Mollner
Actors: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Joshua Odjick, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill.
The Task Is Simple, Walk Or Die.
Official Trailer
The Book
The Long Walk (2025) is based on Stephen King‘s Dystopian Horror Novel The Long Walk published July 3, 1979 under his pen name Richard Bachman.
In a dystopian near-future, America has fallen on hard times. Sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty is about to compete in an annual grueling match of stamina and wits known as The Long Walk. One hundred boys must keep a steady pace of four miles per hour day and night, without ever stopping. Winner gets “The Prize”—anything he wants for the rest of his life. But rules of The Long Walk are harsh and stakes could not be higher. There is no finish line—the winner is last man standing. Contestants cannot receive any outside aid whatsoever. Slow down under the speed limit and you’re given a warning. Three warnings and you’re out of the game—forever.
The Long Walk (2025) – Review
Just for the record, I have not read Stephen King’s book. However, I did some deep-dive research before watching this into director Francis Lawrence, screenwriter JT Mollner, and composer Jeremiah Fraites. As I did so, I learned about the decades-long struggle to bring King’s novel to the big screen. This project saw many failed attempts—first in 1988 with George A. Romero, again in 2007 with Frank Darabont, and in 2018 with André Øvredal—before Lawrence and Lionsgate finally teamed up to make it a reality.
I first learned about this book adaptation through press releases and media we received from Lionsgate. We were lucky enough to get a fair amount of raw behind-the-scenes footage, including interviews and an inside look at the scoring process. I was particularly impressed by the collaboration between Jeremiah Fraites (of The Lumineers) and Francis Lawrence in crafting the score. We’ve even put together a special featurette on scoring the film, which you can find below, along with cast interviews and more behind-the-scenes content.
Once a year, a group of young men (one from every state in America) all get together for a long walk. There is the promise of a big prize, whatever you want, just name it. Only catch is you have to walk at 4 miles an hour, drop below that and you get shot and killed by army soldiers flanking you the entire way. You also have to be the last man standing. You can see how incredibly difficult it was to frame a group walking for the entire length of a movie and keep it engaging. Francis Lawrence and JT Mollner did a great job of doing just that.
Jeremiah Fraites work on the score is just as important, it was a character in the film unto itself. It carried a lot of the weight and movement in the scenes as we looked at a group of men just walking. You can see the heart and soul that Jeremiah put into the score in watching the video below. Again, I was really impressed with his work and his collaboration with Francis Lawrence. To top all that off, this movie still could have failed in bringing King’s book to life without the right group of guys with the right amount of chemistry between them.
This cast was the perfect group with just the right chemistry to make this movie a success. Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Joshua Odjick, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, and Roman Griffin Davis all did a great job of making The Long Walk feel exactly the opposite. The relationship and friendship that grew between Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson really shined through and cemented the emotional investment you feel when you watch the film.
At the end of the walk, I would have to say they succeeded in their mission of bringing Stephen King’s The Long Walk to life on the big screen. The ending left me wanting a little more, but we’ll leave it at that. It was a long walk—and I think they made it!
The Long Walk (2025) – Review by Bobby @ Streaming Movie Night.
Movie Stills
The Long Walk (2025) – Review – © 2026 Streaming Movie Night
Bonus Content
Post Screening Q&A With The Cast (2025)
Behind The Scenes Featurette
Creating The Score Featurette
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