This New 2025 Thriller Broke A Massive Rotten Tomatoes Record For Stephen King

When a beloved, best-selling author boasts a body of work that is adapted at least a dozen times every year, it can be quite difficult to keep up. Well, Stephen King is one of those authors whose books are frequently translated into high-profile projects all the time, which include the highly anticipated Mike Flanagan adaptation of "Carrie" and Edgar Wright's revamped rendition of "The Running Man." If we look back at major movie releases based on King's works, a lot of them have fared well at the box office ("It," "Misery"), while others have flown under the radar despite being uniquely competent (like Flanagan's genuinely chilling "Doctor Sleep").

At the moment, a new King thriller has broken a massive Rotten Tomatoes record, sporting an impressive 95% on the Tomatometer ahead of the film's theatrical release. The film in question is Francis Lawrence's "The Long Walk," which etches a dystopian picture of America with its gut-wrenching exploration of what it means to be a teenager robbed of choice and autonomy. It is worth noting that Brian De Palma's "Carrie" still holds the second-highest aggregate (for a King adaptation) on Rotten Tomatoes (94%!), followed by "Stand By Me" and "1922" (where both sport a 92% rating).

/Film's BJ Colangelo praised "The Long Walk" for its visceral emotional impact, along with the fact that it valorizes "friendships nurtured between and by boys, allowing them to carry the same weight as any romantic love story" (you can read the full review here). Based on similar reviews that represent critical consensus, it appears that Lawrence's adaptation of King's source material intimately understands the need to reshape and recontextualize the story to create a more authentic (albeit heartbreaking) cinematic experience.

Without further ado, let's take a look at what makes King's "The Long Walk" so special in the first place.

King had published "The Long Walk" under the mysterious Richard Bachman pseudonym in 1979, but it was among the first novels he had begun writing during his freshman years. The novel is truly pessimistic in tone, and this bleakness feels doubly pronounced because of its inspired roots in reality, where the metaphor is uncomfortably crystal clear from the get-go. When youths like Ray Garraty are thrown into a life-or-death situation without being given a choice, they try their best to romanticize these brutal circumstances, as it is the only thing pushing them to keep walking. 

You see, the premise of the novel is that The Walk must take place along a pre-arranged route while the (unwilling) participants are flanked by guards, with repeated warnings leading to instant death. When these young boys start dying and their lives are discarded for no reason, the horrific desperation etched on the onlookers' faces mirrors our own. It is not easy to turn such a harrowing premise into a gripping, 400-page thriller with consistent emotional stakes, but King does it with great skill and flair. Every character, even those who appear for a short time, makes their mark, as every life lost in the name of this annual contest has been cruelly trampled unprompted. 

"The Prize" at the end of this walk doesn't truly matter, as the promised paradise at the end of the line isn't worth it and is tainted with death, devastation, and grief. Lawrence and "Strange Darling" writer/director JT Mollner seem to have leveraged this all-encompassing heartbreak to fuel the narrative, where every character's subsequent absence stings and further endangers our protagonists with every step they take.

I don't think any prior knowledge of King's novel is required for you to experience the full emotional weight of Lawrence's latest thriller. That said, you can absolutely visit — or revisit — King's "The Long Walk" after watching the movie, but there's a solid chance that the novel might end up feeling more timely and devastating than ever before.

"The Long Walk" releases in theaters on September 12, 2025.