Gerald's Game Review

Directed by: Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil)

Starring: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas


Plot: Based on the novel by Stephen King, and released exclusively on Netflix. Jesse Burlingame retreats to a remote lake house with her husband Gerald, to rekindle their marriage by getting a little kinky. But things quickly go south when Gerald suffers a fatal heart attack, leaving Jesse handcuffed to the bed.

Review: Stephen King adaptations are hit and miss in terms of quality. While there are plenty of great adaptations like The Shining, Carrie, and The Shawshank Redemption, there is also a greater abundance of less than stellar ones such as Maximum Overdrive. But, along with It, it looks like 2017 will be a rare instance where we get two good King adaptations in one year.
Gerald's Game is more of a story of survival than a traditional horror movie. It is about her inner struggles, portrayed by hallucinations of herself and her husband. Much of the movie is about her facing her inner demons.
The actress playing the main character, Carla Gugino, gives a great performance, especially considering that she spends much of the film by herself or talking to a hallucination of herself. She plays a very relatable character, with a dark past that resurfaces in the midst of this ordeal.
Gerald's Game is similar to the director's other Netflix movie, Hush. Like that movie, it is about a woman alone in a house who struggles to stay alive, and has a similar character arc. However, while that one was a straight up horror movie, this one plays out mostly like a survival drama that gets suspenseful in the last act. But there are a few bloody scenes, including one in particular that was difficult for me to watch.
Altogether, this was a good survival story. It surprisingly never lagged story-wise, and kept me interested throughout. It should be given credit for adapting a book that is mostly inner monologue, and making it into a thoroughly interesting movie.

Rating: 8 out of 10 handcuffs