Movie Review: Gerald's Game (2017)

2017 has been a year of glory for Stephen King fans. Between The Dark Tower and 'It' King's quirky, if not exotic, universe has been saturated in the film world. Mike Flanagan brings 'Gerald's Game' to Netflix, which for a long time was deemed as impossible to film. Carla Gugino stars as Jessie Burlingame who takes a vacation with her husband Gerald (played brilliantly by Bruce Greenwood). The couple prepare to have sex, Gerald bands Jessie to the bedposts with metal handcuffs, and he (SPOILER ALERT) has a heart attack and dies. Now Jessie is stuck chained to a bed, nobody around, and a very hungry mutt on the loose. King's 1992 psychological thriller is a great, tight, and isolated novel. The book for the majority of it's pages, occurs entirely within Jessie's head, which is why adapting this movie does pose challenges. This movie could have been really boring, it could have come off as dumb or pretentious, yet it does none of those things. Gerald's Game is a great psychological thriller that is very creepy and boasts excellent performances from both of these leads who are so damn transfixing. From the opening credits we sense distance between this couple. These are not happily-married folks who live on the prairie, but a marriage dulled and maimed by sexual starvation and a lack of attachment from one's self. Once Gerald dies and the ball gets rolling, it never ever stops. This movie explores Jessie's character who experienced an extremely disturbing event as a child. Her memories are very much so intertwined with the current situation she's in with her distant husband. And it's that contrast that makes the film so haunting and effective. Everything in this movie is internal fear. Aside from a hungry stray (no spoilers this time) there aren't any real concrete scares in this film. Yet the camera movements and the way they act out Jessie's thoughts and emotions tell us otherwise. The cinematography is outstanding and every shot is framed with perfect lighting that illuminates these characters and shows us the true monsters inside all of us. Without divulging too deeply this film doesn't shy away from being truly scary. There are certain sequences in this film reminiscent of The Shining which was entirely out of left field and not expected in the least. The way Flanagan uses set design to perfectly adapt images and feelings from the novel was amazingly translated to screen. The smallest details, such as the grooved bed posts from the novel's cover, co-exist wonderfully with this breath of new vision into one of King's lesser works. Carla Gugino is outstanding in this role and is so great at delivering a pained performance. Bruce Greenwood is also excellent as his character has a control panel. One flick of the switch is a kind, compassionate partner, but the other is a creepy and deranged man who is driven to rape and violate Jessie. The film ends on a high note as well, which is good because that's easily where the novel faltered off. Overall, Gerald's Game is filled with astounding performances, has an excellent sense of suspense and scariness, and is a marvelous, very contained thriller. Three stars= A