Somehow, I missed that a film version of The Long Walk is on the verge of being released.

The Long Walk is one of Stephen King’s best novels, even if it is one that he wrote under the name of Richard Bachman.  In a dystopian future, a group of young men enter an annual walking contest.  They have to walk a certain number of miles an hour (four in the book but apparently three in the film) and, if they fall behind or stop, they are executed by the soldiers following them.  The Walk continues until there is only one survivor.  The Long Walk feels like a distant cousin to The Running Man (the book, not necessarily the film adaptation).

The film version of The Long Walk was directed by Francis Lawrence, who previous directed The Hunger Games sequels, and has a cast that includes Cooper Hoffman, Charlie Plummer, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill as the main bad guy.  Who knows if the film will do justice to the book’s bleak tone.  The trailer offers some hints.  The film will be released on September 12th.