In a bold, high-octane reimagining of Stephen King’s 1982 dystopian novel, The Running Man is set to return to the big screen, directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Last Night in Soho).
Set in a hyper-violent, near-future America, The Running Man imagines a reality in which a state-sanctioned blood sport – a televised fight for survival – becomes the nation’s most popular form of entertainment. Contestants, or “Runners”, must battle to the death as millions of spectators watch every macabre moment unfold. Ben Richards (Glen Powell) becomes the show’s unwilling star, and everyman fighting to survive the game that’s designed to destroy him – and to save his daughter from the system that put him there.
Wright’s version promises to hew closer to the story King published in 1982 than the Arnold Schwarzenegger free-for-all that followed in 1987, while his signature kinetic style and razor-sharp satire — both evident in the trailer footage released so far — hint at an explosive cinematic experience. The film also features an ensemble cast including Josh Brolin, William H Macy and Lee Pace.
To mark the film’s release on 14 November, we’ve compiled a list of movies that explore similarly dystopian, macabre game show themes — each examining the dark machinery of entertainment built on human suffering: grim reflections of a culture enthralled by spectacle and survival.
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1. As the Gods Will (Takashi Miike, 2014)
Killer toys, divine punishment, and schoolyard carnage – Miike at his most gleefully unhinged.
In As the Gods Will, Takashi Miike transports us to a high school where students are forced to take part in deadly games, with children’s toys such as Daruma dolls and giant Pachinko cats transformed into murderous agents of fate. As the violence escalates, the audience is treated to two hours of bizarre, over-the-top spectacle.
While Miike may be critiquing society’s desensitisation to violence, the film also revels in the twisted thrill of the contest – where human life becomes disposable for the sake of entertainment.
2. My Little Eye (Marc Evans, 2002)
Reality TV meets psychological horror in this chilling prelude to the age of surveillance.
My Little Eye offers a psychological, slow-burn twist on the genre. A group of volunteers agree to live in isolation for six months, competing for a million-dollar prize. As the days wear on, strange and sinister events push them to breaking point, creating an atmosphere thick with paranoia.
The film’s unsettling reveal – that the contestants are unwilling participants in a voyeuristic, macabre experiment – serves as a sharp critique of our culture’s obsession with watching others crumble under pressure.
3. Series 7: The Contenders (Daniel Minahan, 2001)
A grimly satirical reality show where murder makes for must-see TV.
In Series 7: The Contenders, six randomly chosen participants must fight to the death in a grimly satirical televised competition. As the series unfolds, viewers witness the lengths people will go to for fame and survival.
The contestants’ lives are reduced to mere entertainment, their deaths broadcast for mass amusement – a scathing commentary on the public’s appetite for spectacle, and the media’s exploitation of human suffering.
4. Laa-Thaa-Phi (Ghost Game) (Sarawut Wichiensarn, 2006)
A haunted Cambodian prison becomes a set piece for supernatural exploitation.
Laa-Thaa-Phi (Ghost Game) pushes the exploitation premise even further. Eleven contestants are placed in a haunted location, where they must face supernatural forces and their deepest fears. Set within a former Cambodian prison – a site of real historical horror – the film layers its fictional terror over genuine trauma, amplifying its disturbing power.
The show’s producers capitalise on fear and spectacle, transforming human suffering into morbid entertainment for the masses.
5. The Human Race (Paul Hough, 2013)
When survival becomes a sport, morality doesn’t stand a chance.
The Human Race presents a similarly brutal concept: 80 contestants from around the world — young and old, athletic and disabled, white‑collared and homeless — are thrust into a deadly race, where survival depends on speed, cunning and sheer willpower. The rules are simple but sadistic: ‘If you are lapped twice, you die. If you step off the path, you die. If you touch the grass, you will die. Race… or die.’
As the race unfolds, the violence intensifies, and the competitors’ desperate attempts to outlast one another become a grotesque spectacle. The film offers a bleak meditation on how human life is commodified in the pursuit of entertainment – a race in which victory demands the ultimate forfeiture of one’s humanity.
Catch The Running Man in cinemas on November 14, 2025.
