“The Long Walk” Delivers Otherworldly Trailer

Sometimes you don't need to understand exactly what's happening to enjoy a trailer. For genre movies especially, the idea of "WTF is going on" can be even more intriguing. The Long Walk, the latest film from Lao filmmaker Mattie Do, absolutely has that going for it.

Blurring the lines between sci-fi, horror and tender drama, the film follows a young boy (Por Silatsa) who travels down a dusty road in the near-future. He meets a ghost (Noutnapha Soydara), who becomes his companion. But as the boy learns more about the death of his new pal, he crosses a (literal) line in his attempts to prevent his own mother's passing. The atmosphere and slow pace might not be for fans of gory slashers, but reviews from festivals like Toronto and Venice make it clear they're assets for this ghost story.

The Long Walk opens in select theaters on February 18. A digital and VOD release follows on March 1.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.