If you know me at all (and I’d like to think we’re all very, very intimate friends by now), you know that THE MIST is absolutely my #1 most anticipated movie this year. It’s a story I truly loved growing up, and let’s face it, stories don’t get much cooler than one about a bunch of friendly small-town folk who go batshit insane while trapped inside a supermarket by the unimaginably freakish monsters who roam the outside. That Frank Darabont is doing it makes me extremely happy, not only because he directed one of the great flicks of the 90s, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (also based, of course, on a Stephen King story), but he co-wrote 1988’s THE BLOB, which is easily one of my favorite horror flicks of the 80s – and that rare remake that I feel outshines the original.
So yeah, Darabont kicks ass, but what’s he got on his plate after THE MIST comes out in November? Why, another Stephen King story, of course! I know, many of you are probably rolling your eyes and wondering when this guy’s gonna move on (he also directed THE GREEN MILE). But I honestly can’t get too upset when the probable next is King’s fantastic THE LONG WALK. Darabont talked to MTV about this, and another one that’s possibly brewing:
“I have the rights to two of his stories. One is ‘The Long Walk,’ which is a tremendously bizarre and powerful little piece. The other is ‘The Monkey,’ a very old-school chiller. They’re both very human character pieces. I suspect I’ll make them on even lower budgets than ‘The Mist.’ Hopefully I’ll be able to get to one or both this year.”
For those of you who don’t know, THE LONG WALK is what would happen if the kids from STAND BY ME got shot in the head whenever they stopped walking. Taking place in an alternate reality, The Long Walk is a contest held by a fascist government that pits 100 boys against each other: in walking. Yes, all you have to do is walk a never-ending road, while supervised by armed soldiers. But if you slow down, or worse, stop, you get a few warnings before your final one – a bullet.
Pretty tough stuff this, as all the kids are in their mid-teens, and it’s kind’ve hard to picture this movie being made without a f*cking ton of controversy (most of the kids are likable and sympathetic, making it even more grueling). But we like great tales well told, and this is just that, so I’m certainly going to keep my eyes peeled for more info related to this project.
Oh almost forgot – THE MONKEY is about a toy monkey that can kill people and cause massive chaos with just a clash of his tiny symbols. Yeah, that’s a good one too…
Happy to provide new images for your nightmares!
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