I went and saw The Long Walk a second time yesterday because it’s just that damn good. I took my son with me the first round a few weeks ago, and the movie adaption of Stephen King’s (under his famous alternate nom de plume, Richard Bachman) cautionary dystopian tale just incredible.

I can see my mom and I saying way back in the Eighties what it would mean if they ever made this King-Bachman story into a film. Damn if this wasn’t the masterpiece we expected back then. I remember being numbed and chilled when I first read the novella back in the day. Nowadays, I have to face-palm myself at those calling this a rip-off of The Hunger Games. History lesson, King first wrote this in 1982 and his moves were borrowed, reimagined and made into a pop culture phenom. Suzanne Collins did a phenomenal job in her own right, sure. The concept starts here, however. Intense and soul-shattering, Long Walk the movie is an all-time best King adaptation.

My second trip yesterday got me thinking when I was gifted The Bachman Books and all the deep discussions in the late 80s with my mom and Paulette over King’s early visions and what has transpired since. I call him the inadvertent godfather of reality t.v. by writing The Running Man and The Long Walk all those decades ago. As it was, he was a frigging soothsayer with The Dead Zone. We spoke back then hoping such nihilism and dystopia would never come to pass. Wondering over the years when someone would have the stones to bring The Long Walk to life.

I think this film is going somewhat underappreciated, though we had a fair size audience a month after it came out. I’m still feeling affected by this story and its ramifications after two viewings. Sidebar, Hamill, you glorious bastard!

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.