There are over 100 Stephen King adaptations, if we're counting every movie, sequel, TV show, and spin-off. Some of these adaptations, such as The Shawshank Redemption or The Shining, are of the highest caliber when it comes to quality. Others, like Thinner or Sleepwalkers, are a fun, campy mess. The Long Walk, however, might just sit in a special category all on its own – as it takes an overall bleak, but fairly entertaining dystopian sci-fi story and turns it into a powerful, gutwrenching cinematic event that will leave you sobbing in the theater and wondering just where our society is headed.
Now, adapting King is no easy feat – as we've seen with attempts like 2017's The Dark Tower, or the straight-to-streaming Salem's Lot. King's works, even the most straightforward-seeming stories, tend to qualify as what's known in the film world as "high concept."
