Gerald’s Game – Film Review

A woman accidentally kills her husband during foreplay. They had driven out to a remote area in an attempt to reignite their flailing relationship. Handcuffed to the bed, she soon becomes delirious.

There’s something so incredibly off-putting about Mike Flanagan‘s feature-length adaptation of Stephen King‘s best-selling novel Gerald’s Game that you won’t be able to shake after the credits roll. It’s a film that utilizes the art of suspense marvellously while also bringing forth a legitimately unnerving sense of foreboding.

Throughout the entire film, there never once seems like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for our lead protagonist Jessie. She is tied to a bedpost thanks to a strange sex game with her husband, who dies from a heart attack. Oh, and there also just so happens to be a starving dog in the same room as her.

You’d be surprised to see just how inventive and insanely unpredictable Gerald’s Game is. It’s made all the more fascinating when you consider the fact that almost the entire movie from start to finish takes place in just this one, small bedroom. But, leave it up to Flanagan to take you on a wild journey through all that horror has to offer.

Aside from Ari Aster, I would say that Flanagan is my favorite director. He is an absolute genius in the industry and is somebody I look up to greatly, and Gerald’s Game only cements that further. His direction here is nothing short of phenomenal. The things he is able to do with this story will impress even the most seasoned horror fans.

This film also features some of the best acting I’ve seen in a horror film in ages. Carla Gugino is obviously asked to do quite a bit in the role of Jessie, seeing as how she is essentially acting as a woman who is tied to a bed for days without food or water. She sells every single second of screen-time she is given.

She feels totally unhinged in every scene, and there were numerous instances in which you could almost swear she wasn’t acting. Bruce Greenwood is also fantastic in the titular role of Gerald, who normally appears in the film as a hallucination to Jessie. There are several highly impressive monologue scenes involving his character that will leave you shocked.

Then, of course, there’s the legitimately bone-chilling character of the Moonlight Man, portrayed eerily well by Carel Struycken. This is the guy I hope I never end up seeing in my nightmares. I won’t say much about his character due to spoilers, but what I will say is that he’s the most terrifying part of the film.

This is an extremely haunting movie that deals with themes such as grief and trauma; something that Flanagan is excellent at tackling. If you are looking for an incredibly clever horror film that manages to bring all the goods, then you really don’t need to look any further.

Gerald’s Game is a bone-chilling exercise in suspense and unease, directed masterfully by Mike Flanagan and featuring a truly phenomenal lead performance from Carla Gugino.