I Can’t Get Through The Long Walk Footage Without Crying. I'm Terrified Of What The Movie Is Going To Do To Me

There’s a slew of upcoming Stephen King projects heading to the 2025 release schedule. The one I thought I was most excited for was the tonally intriguing Edgar Wright movie The Running Man with Glen Powell (and Michael Cera wreaking havoc with a water gun in the trailer). That all changed when I caught the trailer for The Long Walk. I honestly can’t get through it without losing my s–t, and I’m terrified of what’s coming when the movie hits the big screen.

The Long Walk Trailer Has Wrecked Me Repeatedly Now.

I’ve seen The Long Walk trailer three times now. Once, I screened it early while sitting next to a slew of journalists at Lionsgate’s CinemaCon 2025 presentation. Despite the professional setting, I cried. Once, I saw it ahead of a viewing of F1 and once I’ve now watched it on my computer. Every single time I’ve had a visceral reaction to the material. My eyes well up, yet I can’t tear them away from the screen. My stomach churns and my legs feel like jelly. I am literally horrified, and yet feel glued to my seat at the same time. If that was the intention, the movie has already succeeded.

The Long Walk follows a group of kids all walking an indeterminate distance for life-changing prize money. Only there’s one hitch: if you fall behind, you die. We’ve seen a scene where all of the kids walking seem to be spurring one another on. However, one young man is falling behind. A crack of a gun is heard. There’s another moment when one young man’s shoe comes loose and he's struggling to get it back on before things take a serious turn.

Every time I see the loose shoe, I’m internally screaming, ‘Get up! Get up!’ I've even dreamt about it. I've seen sub-five minutes of this movie so far, and I already feel scarred for life.

The Long Walk Source Material Is So Tough It Took A Long Time For The Movie To Get Made

The development of the flick has been a long time coming. We’ve previously explored the history of the film coming together in our The Long Walk guide, and various voices involved have explained how this movie felt insurmountable and completely unmakeable for years. At one point in the ‘80s, George Romero was reportedly attached. Frank Darabont held the rights for a while. André Øvredal was supposed to make it in 2019, but the project was dropped and we weren't bullish it would ever move forward.

Fifteen years ago or so, dystopian fiction also came to the forefront with content like The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games and even popular projects like Divergent. Still, The Long Walk was not made.

We’ve covered this tale before on CinemaBlend. How part of the problem seems to have been simply making a movie about kids trudging on and on for days. How part of the problem was the subject material, as JT Pollner, who wrote the movie, has called it “disturbing and somewhat controversial.” How another problem with The Long Walk was simply how much walking the cast had to do to actually film the movie. The cast told us that in order to have comparable scenery, they’d walk one route over and over at ¾ of a mile per take.

Whomever was in charge of continuity in this movie, I salute you. But I also salute the young men, who confirmed they walked over 300 miles during the making of The Long Walk.

I mentioned how this flick has really been sticking with me to my co-worker Eric Eisenberg, who also happens to be CinemaBlend’s Stephen King expert. This means that, yes, he’s read the 1979 source material the movie will be based on, and he told me even he’s “flabbergasted” The Long Walk got made. I haven’t read the book, and I don’t know its ending, but I get the impression I’m going to have a real gut-punch coming.

Plus, it strikes me that if I’m that emotional this early in, there’s only going to be more toil to come. If I can’t even handle three minutes of this film, how am I supposed to get through the film’s 108-minute runtime?

I’d say bring it on, Stephen King, but honestly, I’m too traumatized to confidently do that. The Long Walk will be here to ruin our days on September 12th.