2017 Film Review: Gerald's Game (2017)

Directed by: Mike Flanagan
Written by: Mike Flanagan, Jeff Howard
Starring: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas
IMDb Link

Netflix made another movie with a decently high profile, so I get to review another movie without ever having to go to the theatre.



Based upon the Stephen King novel, Gerald's Game is about a couple who go to a weekend getaway in an attempt to revitalise their marriage and sex life, only for it to all go horribly wrong when the husband Gerald (Greenwood) has a heart attack and dies while the wife Jess (Gugino) has both her hands cuffed to the bed. It's an extremely simple set-up with very good execution, building not only upon the inherent physical terror that a situation like this entails, but also the psychological issues unique to Jess.

Gugino traps you along with Jess in her performance. She's in constant agony due to the anxiety present in the situation, and her every gasp, wince and cry for help reinforces the pain you feel emanating from her, the combination of every kind of fear building up inside her visible through her expressions alone, a considerable feat, and necessary given the nature of her circumstances. The potential for physical harm in the movie isn't static either; while there is always a heightened sense of it, there's also regular spikes as her situation slowly worsens, and the moments where it kicks up a notch are enough to make the skin crawl.

The film also takes the opportunity of the state of affairs to explore Jess as a character, in doing so effectively fleshing out the story in a meaningful way while also adding more ways to poke and prod and generally leave you feeling uncomfortable and stressed out; the things we learn of Jess speak of deeper pains in her life than the one she experiences now and creates a credible reason for her ending up in the situation to begin with. Once again, Gugino's performance carries so much of the film here, as she's often the only character on-screen and only has herself to talk to. The film's themes of masculinity and trauma also bleed through here, and though they're not handled with a great deal of detail they make for a very interesting idea when all added together at film's end.

The film is very good, but there are a couple of key flaws. One has to do with the something close to the end; I won't spoil details, but I felt that there wasn't enough connective tissue between the film's harrowing end and it's epilogue, which doesn't ruin the film, but does hurt the experience due to it being so necessary yet not quite meshing with the rest of the film. It wasn't the shift in tone, that was to be expected, it's more to do with the way it goes about doing what it needs to do. There's also small factors that speak a little to the creative limits to this film; there's a stylistic choice in the film that continues through most of the experience, but it's use is uneven.

The Verdict: Gerald's Game is a horror that hits both viscerally and psychologically, in large part due to the strong performances from its two leads, particularly Gugino. It's not without its flaws, but if you can look past them then you have a movie that will make you squirm in your seat in several different ways.

Rating: 7/10

Published October 2nd, 2017