The trailer for The Long Walk was recently released, and the movie looks amazing. Based on a novel by Stephen King, the story is about a deadly walking contest set in a dystopian society. If a contestant’s speed drops below three miles per hour, they receive a warning. If they can’t get back up to pace after three warnings, they are shot and killed. The walk continues until only one contestant remains.
The movie looks good, and it’s made by some great filmmakers. You can take a look at our reaction in our article where we explain why The Long Walk feels like a cross between Battle Royale (2000) and Speed (1994). But if you’re looking for another movie that is vaguely similar to The Long Walk, check out The Human Race (2013).
The Human Race is a low-budget independent film that takes a slightly sci-fi approach to a survival game story. Eighty people suddenly appear together on a sidewalk in a place they’ve never been to before. They seemingly teleported to the location, and none of them have any idea what’s going on.
In their heads they can hear a voice telling them to race. The rules of the race are simple and brutal. Stay on the path, don’t touch the grass, and follow the arrows pointing the way. Any person found breaking the rules will die. The course is on a loop, and anyone lapped twice will die. Anyone not actively participating in the race will die. The last person alive wins.
The method of death is discovered almost immediately. Someone leaves the sidewalk and touches the grass, and their head explodes. The head-death reminds me a little of the exploding collars in Battle Royale, just with a more complete explosion. The mysterious nature of the exploding heads in The Human Race also reminds me of the sky lasers shot into people’s heads in Alice in Borderland (2020). Just like that series, the unknown of who (or what) gathered everyone to compete in a death game gives the entire scenario an unsettling feeling.
As a movie, The Human Race is pretty good. It has a lot of the hallmarks of battle royale and survival game movies. People question why they’re there, they form alliances, they betray and kill each other, and so on. The movie is a bit more horror forward than some other survival-game movies and shows. There is a lot of blood, and certain situations get quite dark. Which, I suppose is true for most survival game stories. But scenes are often presented with strong horror-movie aesthetics, like when racers choose murder as a way to eliminate their competition.
Of course, The Human Race is a low budget movie from more than a decade ago, so when CGI is used (like with some of the blood), it looks cheesy. But if that doesn’t bother you, it’s a decent movie for fans of survival game stories. Plus, it’s free to watch on Tubi, so there’s no risk if you want to give it a try.
