Gerald's Game is a 2017 psychological horror film directed by Mike Flanagan and is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. It stars Carla Gugino as Jessie Burlingame and Bruce Greenwood as her husband.
Jessie and Bruce Greenwood are a married couple who take a weekend break in a remote woodlands cabin. Their relationship is on the rocks, and the reason they've taken the holiday is to rekindle the romance they've lost. Part of this is trying new things in their sex life, and the two decide to experiment with bondage. During the foreplay, her husband has a heart attack, leaving her trapped in the bed with a dog that has the taste for human flesh in the house.
I've seen a lot of positive reviews for this film, and I don't mean to say that there aren't positive things about it, but this didn't really do much for me. I've heard that Gerald's Game was written while Stephen King was suffering a bit of a slump in his career. I've never read the novel, so I don't know if that's true, but what I can say is that the themes of the film are one of the best things about it.
Carla Gugino is incredible in the central role, and does a lot with a very small amount of space to move around in. When an actor's body is restricted by things that exist in the plot (think Ryan Reynolds in Buried, or James Franco in 127 Hours), it forces them to use their voice and facial features a lot more, and Carla Gugino does this excellently in Gerald's Game.
But although the film's themes are interesting, the way they've been explored in the film don't really work. There are flashbacks, and scenes in which Jessie is watching versions of herself and her dead husband speak, and those versions represent her internal thoughts about her past, and her thoughts as she tries to remove herself from the situation she's in. The way it's explained in the film is that she's gone mad, over the course of five or so hours, and started to see things.
I don't believe that you could start to see things that quickly, and that's where the first problem comes in. The second problem is the character who, for the most part, is referred to as death, an entity which Jessie sees as something which is coming after her, and is treated as a metaphor for her time running out. The 'death' character skulks in the corner of the room, often hiding in the darkness and watching Jessie from a distance constantly. These are the only times we see him. The character also has vivid, laser-like red eyes, and a face which looks warped and uncanny.
I don't want to spoil anything, but as the film comes to the climax, the 'death' character turns out to be something else entirely, and it just doesn't work. There are other logical flaws in the film too, but explaining them would spoil the film's story.
I understand that this is likely more of a problem with the original novel, but the introduction of the dog into the story feels incredibly forced and unnecessary. The reason the dog has been included in the script is to increase the tension, but it has very little bearing on the plot, and the way the dog is disposed of towards the end of the film is almost laughable.
Mike Flanagan has done some interesting work in the past. I thought Oculus was very underrated and that Ouija: Origin of Evil was fairly interesting, but for me Gerald's Game is a major misstep. If you're a big fan of Stephen King's work, then you might find something to enjoy, otherwise I'd steer clear of this.
Score: D+
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