Gerald's Game
Dan Abel

Review by Dan Abel Patron

Gerald's Game 2017

★★★½

Watched 10 Nov 2019

I went into this one not expecting much. Turns out this is without a doubt in my top five Stephen King adaptation movies of all time. Possibly top three but that's a little tough.

Ninety five percent of Gerald's Game takes place in one room in a bed. A husband and wife (Gerald and Jessie) travel to their country house for a weekend away. They've been having trouble in their marriage and seek to attempt to rekindle things. They are about to have sex when Gerald produces two pairs of handcuffs. He cuffs Jessie's hands to the bedposts. He's beginning to role play a rape fantasy when she decides she can't do it and demands he un-cuff her. It's at this time that he has a heart attack and dies on top of her. She's now in a race against time to free herself before she dehydrates to death.

You may read that summary and think "how can they stretch this out for and hour and a half?". The answer is...actually quite easily and they do a great job at it. Jessie's mind starts to play tricks on her. Her positive thoughts manifest as a doppelgänger of herself and her negative thoughts manifest as a doppelgänger of Gerald. There's also a hungry dog and a seriously creepy looking man she calls The Moonlight Man played by Carel Struycken. You'll remember him as Lurch in the Addam's Family movies or The Giant from Twin Peaks.

Mike Flanagan did an amazing job of bringing the book to life. Carla Gugino's performance as Jessie is a home run. Great story. Check it out.

Block or Report

Dan liked these reviews

All
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_60dbe103-23da-428f-9bf2-c909f9a3b536" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-60dbe103-23da-428f-9bf2-c909f9a3b536'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-60dbe103-23da-428f-9bf2-c909f9a3b536'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-60dbe103-23da-428f-9bf2-c909f9a3b536'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_86ffe063-8be3-4c58-81a9-40f63b55090c" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-86ffe063-8be3-4c58-81a9-40f63b55090c'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-86ffe063-8be3-4c58-81a9-40f63b55090c'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-86ffe063-8be3-4c58-81a9-40f63b55090c'));