Seemingly the king of Netflix horror/thrillers, Mike Flanagan is back with Gerald's Game, an adaptation of a Stephen King novel of the same name. It's starting to feel like this is just the two months of Stephen King adaptations as we got the very disappointing Dark Tower, the really good It, and now Gerald's Game.
This film follows a couple that has been married for 11 years, played by Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood. With their marriage slowly falling apart, the two take a weekend trip to a lake house to fulfill some sexual fantasies. Greenwood's character handcuffs his wife to the bed, then gets a little too rowdy for her liking, then dies of a heart attack. Gugino's character, Jessie, then has to find a way to survive while handcuffed to a bed, with no one to hear her pleas for help, and a hungry stray dog ready for a meal. The only people around to help her are her hallucinations and memories, neither of which can unlock her handcuffs.
Gugino is absolutely amazing in this role, I'd say it's probably one of her best performances. Not only does she play the victim insanely well, but she also plays one of her own hallucinations. Her hallucinated self acts as a voice of reason to Jessie, bringing a good contrast to the real character. Gugino does a very good job of the screaming and hopelessness in the first act, as well as the struggle to escape in the second act. She has no food and very little water and Gugino's performance brings that struggle out very well. As I said before, Bruce Greenwood plays the husband, as well as a hallucinated version of him, much the the hallucinated Jessie. This character is also somewhat of a voice of reason, although he pushes Jessie's buttons in more uncomfortable ways. Greenwood is very good in this role, despite not being at the forefront. Other than those two there are a few small roles that don't go deep enough for me to develop an opinion on them, so I'll just leave those alone.
The writing and direction in this film are very good. The runtime is 1 hour 43 minutes which can get boring with a film that takes place in one spot, but the creative team does a good job of creating engaging dialogue throughout scenes within this space. Flanagan also knows when to use flashbacks very well. There are a few flashback scenes that develop Jessie's character, and help her situation and I think they were cut in at the perfect times to keep the pace of the film up. Flanagan also keeps a good amount of tension running throughout the film, which helps keep the audience's attention. I also really liked some stylistic elements in this film, that I didn't know would impress me so much. Most of the flashbacks revolve around an eclipse, and the red overtones that the editors used during the eclipse bring a very interesting tone to these scenes. I also thought the editing of the end was really good. It kept the pace flowing well and the final few scenes ended up bringing more interesting development all the way up to the credits.
Where I have my issues with this film are the beginning and a scene towards the end. I don't think this film started out as well as it could. The foreplay between Jessie and her husband before he dies feels rushed and awkward, and after his heart attack it takes a little longer than I'd like for the tension to build up. As for the scene towards the end, it is hard to watch. I won't spoil this at all, but if you have a problem with gore or very graphic imagery, you might want to close your eyes for a bit, because I legitimately felt sick to my stomach.
Overall though I think this film got better and better as it went on, and proved that Netflix can continuously deliver good low-budget movies with great performances and compelling stories. While I think that squeamish people might want to stay away from this film, or at least watch with caution, I'd say this is a film to check out, especially since you can watch it from the comfort of your own home.
Rating: 4/5
Written by Matt Mckenzie
This film follows a couple that has been married for 11 years, played by Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood. With their marriage slowly falling apart, the two take a weekend trip to a lake house to fulfill some sexual fantasies. Greenwood's character handcuffs his wife to the bed, then gets a little too rowdy for her liking, then dies of a heart attack. Gugino's character, Jessie, then has to find a way to survive while handcuffed to a bed, with no one to hear her pleas for help, and a hungry stray dog ready for a meal. The only people around to help her are her hallucinations and memories, neither of which can unlock her handcuffs.
Gugino is absolutely amazing in this role, I'd say it's probably one of her best performances. Not only does she play the victim insanely well, but she also plays one of her own hallucinations. Her hallucinated self acts as a voice of reason to Jessie, bringing a good contrast to the real character. Gugino does a very good job of the screaming and hopelessness in the first act, as well as the struggle to escape in the second act. She has no food and very little water and Gugino's performance brings that struggle out very well. As I said before, Bruce Greenwood plays the husband, as well as a hallucinated version of him, much the the hallucinated Jessie. This character is also somewhat of a voice of reason, although he pushes Jessie's buttons in more uncomfortable ways. Greenwood is very good in this role, despite not being at the forefront. Other than those two there are a few small roles that don't go deep enough for me to develop an opinion on them, so I'll just leave those alone.
The writing and direction in this film are very good. The runtime is 1 hour 43 minutes which can get boring with a film that takes place in one spot, but the creative team does a good job of creating engaging dialogue throughout scenes within this space. Flanagan also knows when to use flashbacks very well. There are a few flashback scenes that develop Jessie's character, and help her situation and I think they were cut in at the perfect times to keep the pace of the film up. Flanagan also keeps a good amount of tension running throughout the film, which helps keep the audience's attention. I also really liked some stylistic elements in this film, that I didn't know would impress me so much. Most of the flashbacks revolve around an eclipse, and the red overtones that the editors used during the eclipse bring a very interesting tone to these scenes. I also thought the editing of the end was really good. It kept the pace flowing well and the final few scenes ended up bringing more interesting development all the way up to the credits.
Where I have my issues with this film are the beginning and a scene towards the end. I don't think this film started out as well as it could. The foreplay between Jessie and her husband before he dies feels rushed and awkward, and after his heart attack it takes a little longer than I'd like for the tension to build up. As for the scene towards the end, it is hard to watch. I won't spoil this at all, but if you have a problem with gore or very graphic imagery, you might want to close your eyes for a bit, because I legitimately felt sick to my stomach.
Overall though I think this film got better and better as it went on, and proved that Netflix can continuously deliver good low-budget movies with great performances and compelling stories. While I think that squeamish people might want to stay away from this film, or at least watch with caution, I'd say this is a film to check out, especially since you can watch it from the comfort of your own home.
Rating: 4/5
Written by Matt Mckenzie
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