With the release of The Long Walk, an underrated Stephen King book has gotten the cinematic treatment it deserves. However, another acclaimed King adaptation remains sorely overlooked, despite having received critical acclaim: Gerald’s Game.
Directed by acclaimed horror director Mike Flanagan, Gerald’s Game follows Jessie (Carla Gugino) as she embarks on a romantic getaway with her husband, Gerald (Bruce Greenwood), finding herself handcuffed to a bed with little hope of escape after the latter dies of a heart attack.
Despite being part of the modern resurgence of Stephen King adaptations that began in the 2010s, Gerald’s Game hasn’t been as popular as movies like Carrie, It, or The Shining. This could be attributed to the source novel being one of King’s lesser-known books. Flanagan was also still building notoriety as a filmmaker when he made Gerald’s Game, which came out a year before he broke new ground with The Haunting of Hill House.
Gerald’s Game deserves greater attention from fans of King and horror in general. Flanagan’s movie is a masterwork of psychological terror that defied everyone’s expectations upon release. Even Flanagan himself, despite being a fan of King’s, said in an interview that he had considered Gerald’s Game unfilmable. Nevertheless, thanks to its incredible cast, writing, and terror, the movie has become one of the best —and most underrated — King adaptations in recent memory.
Similar to Stephen King’s Misery, Gerald’s Game shows its protagonist confined to a single setting for much of the movie. However, it makes the most out of its limited cast and setting in extraordinary ways.
Jessie might be the only character alive in the room, but she isn’t alone. Her frightened and dehydrated psyche conjures up imaginary versions of herself and Gerald. These two become the respective angel and devil on Jessie’s shoulders as she struggles to survive and escape. This allows Gugino to deliver a powerful and layered dual performance as both versions of Jessie.
Gerald’s Game then transcends the confines of Jessie’s bedroom as her mind becomes the film’s setting. As she loses her strength and grip on reality, Jessie is forced to explore her past, unearthing her traumatic memory of being sexually assaulted by her father (Henry Thomas) as a child (Chiara Aurelia). She then realizes that, even years after the initial abuse, her subconscious continued to hold her prisoner as she married someone manipulative and abusive like her father.
Gerald’s Game thus becomes more than just a story of survival. It transforms into a deep character study exploring the effects of childhood abuse and repressed trauma on the human mind. Few films have explored these issues with such sincerity, nuance, and sensitivity, making Gerald’s Game a remarkable story from both King and Flanagan.
Gerald’s Game is a slow-burning horror movie that doesn’t rely on gore or jump scares in order to terrify viewers. While this likely didn’t appeal to fans of more traditional horror movies, the film presents an unsettling, phantasmagoric journey into Jessie’s psyche that is a sight to behold.
Throughout Gerald’s Game, Jessie is tormented by surreal, unsettling images of a blood-red solar eclipse and the mysterious “Moonlight Man” (Carel Struycken), who watches her from the shadows with his box of bones, waiting for her encroaching death. For most of the film, it is unclear exactly what is real or what is in Jessie’s head. But that ambiguity hooks its audience as they wait to see if and how Jessie will escape.
Gerald’s Game doesn’t shy away from presenting some extreme and shocking moments of bloody horror. From a dog gnawing at Gerald’s lifeless corpse to that gruesome and infamous de-gloving scene, such gory moments are especially intense, even for a Stephen King film, and are sure to make audiences cover their eyes.
Likewise, Gerald’s Game doesn’t hold back in its exploration of the terror and nuances of sexual abuse. The film’s unflinching approach to such a sensitive matter is enough to make viewers squirm in their seats. Even today, it’s still a difficult topic for many to discuss and acknowledge, and the way Gerald’s Game captures that experience makes it even more intense.
Despite the daunting task of adapting King’s novel for film, Flanagan and his team defied the odds and pulled off a successful adaptation. With such a small cast and setting, Gerald’s Game presents a harrowing but empowering story of a woman overcoming her trauma and surviving sexual assault and almost certain death, making it a must-see motion picture even today.
Gerald’s Game is available to stream on Netflix.
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