551: Gerald's Game

[00:00:01] Let's get to Stephen King's Gerald's Game from 2017. It is a Netflix original, directed by Mike Flanagan, stars Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood.

[00:00:17] And the synopsis is,

[00:00:20] A couple tries to spice up their marriage in a remote lake house. After the husband dies unexpectedly, the wife is left handcuffed to their bed frame and must fight to survive and break free.

[00:00:35] This was a first time watch for me. When it first came out, I wasn't even aware that it was a Stephen King adaptation. It seemed kind of unlike what he normally does.

[00:00:47] I really enjoyed it. As of now, it would be my favorite of the Netflix Stephen King films.

[00:00:59] Similar to In the Tall Grass and 1922, this one is also almost in a way like a theater play because it takes place in primarily one location.

[00:01:12] And you never know how that's going to go in terms of keeping things fresh visually and creating new scenarios and circumstances, all that.

[00:01:24] But Mike Flanagan being the talent that he is, he did it very well. He made such great use out of that room.

[00:01:33] I was never bored from a visual standpoint. It always looked great.

[00:01:39] The production design, the lighting, and even just that location both inside and out.

[00:01:48] Bruce Greenwood, I like in general. He's one of those character actors who pops up in everything.

[00:01:54] And he usually plays jerks, but he's good at it and he plays one in this.

[00:02:01] I love Carla Gugino. She's great in everything.

[00:02:06] But this is definitely one of her better recent roles.

[00:02:09] And I know she's been working a lot with Mike Flanagan.

[00:02:13] I didn't know anything about the main narrative in terms of what happens after the husband dies.

[00:02:24] The incorporation of the inner consciousness of Carla Gugino, who is very tough and strong and calling the husband who also appears in his own way on his faults.

[00:02:39] And there's this back and forth between the, let's say, the spirit of Gerald and Carla Gugino.

[00:02:49] In a weird way, I think it sort of plays out almost like a horror version of forced couples therapy.

[00:02:58] You're stuck in this room. You can't leave. You have to figure things out or break apart.

[00:03:06] Carla Gugino is also having flashbacks of her younger life.

[00:03:12] And she realizes over the course of the narrative that her life has been primarily surrounded by and controlled by manipulative, dominating men.

[00:03:25] And she's also having flashbacks of her husband with both her husband, who after 10 years of marriage is coming out with all of these very dark, not necessarily crazy sexual needs.

[00:03:37] But appearing as someone who she doesn't really recognize.

[00:03:42] And he gets upset with her before he dies.

[00:03:45] He gets upset with her about not wanting the same thing all of a sudden.

[00:03:51] Blaming things on her saying she should have known this or known that.

[00:03:56] Plus the very uncomfortable, but very effective look back at her being molested by her father.

[00:04:06] And even though it was terrible to watch, the writing for the father was so true to life, I think.

[00:04:14] Because he is the perfect example of a abuser, especially in dealing with minors, who tries to put all the blame, all the pressure on the victim rather than himself.

[00:04:30] For example, after he does what he does, he goes into her bedroom and he's saying, you know what?

[00:04:37] Maybe we should tell your mom just in case, you know, maybe it's better if it's out in the open.

[00:04:43] And then he says, your mother probably won't blame you for this, which obviously none of it was her doing or her fault.

[00:04:50] But maybe she will.

[00:04:51] Who knows?

[00:04:52] Let's be safe and do it.

[00:04:55] As well as your friends, you know, I can't really trust you to keep a secret like this.

[00:05:00] Like what if later on one of your friends tells you a secret and then you say, hey, I have a secret too.

[00:05:05] And, you know, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:05:08] And that makes her feel as a inexperienced teenager.

[00:05:13] Wait, you can trust me.

[00:05:14] Like, I'm not going to say anything.

[00:05:15] That would just put more of the spotlight on me.

[00:05:17] I don't want to have to deal with that.

[00:05:20] Then it doesn't go into it a whole lot, but I think it alludes to it of the mother at that time, suspecting something might be wrong, but not doing anything.

[00:05:31] Remaining passive, complacent and letting this abuse continue right under her nose.

[00:05:36] And there are other ideas like overcoming fear.

[00:05:43] If you don't confront your demons, your inner trauma, it's going to consume you over time.

[00:05:50] It's always going to be there if you don't process it in a healthy way.

[00:05:56] The part of the narrative that I really was not expecting at all was the dog.

[00:06:02] At the beginning, they see this stray dog who's hungry.

[00:06:07] Carla Gugino gives him this meat when they get to the house and then the dog goes away.

[00:06:13] But then when Gerald dies and is on the floor, Carla Gugino can't, you know, obviously get to him.

[00:06:21] The dog comes in and actually starts eating away at his body.

[00:06:27] And then he will also sit in the doorway just waiting for the chance to maybe eat her, to take more of Gerald.

[00:06:39] I did like though that they nicknamed the dog Cujo, which is the other Stephen King book about the dog going crazy.

[00:06:48] So I thought that was a funny little nod.

[00:06:52] Now, one thing that I read about beforehand, and I can't speak to how truthful it is to the book, but I knew that even the movie ending had a lot of people upset or let down.

[00:07:07] When it first started, like the third act, I was a little confused because she gets out of the house, crashes her car because she's so delirious, survives, and then is able to write about what happened.

[00:07:25] And even going a little bit further, there was the callback to the ghostly figure who appeared in the vacation home.

[00:07:35] And I saw that almost like the Grim Reaper, because she seemed like she was going to die at the vacation home, but she didn't.

[00:07:45] So now the Grim Reaper is waiting in her bedroom from now on until she eventually dies.

[00:07:53] That was a very creepy, haunting idea that left enough to the imagination.

[00:07:59] I was like, okay, I'm cool with that.

[00:08:02] But then it goes a step further, and it turns out that this guy, this grave robber killer guy was actually real.

[00:08:12] So we have to see her confront this guy while he's being convicted, and she goes in there and speaks to him, and it just felt very random and tacked on.

[00:08:27] I think even commentary-wise, it was a little messy.

[00:08:32] I didn't hate it, like I was never offended by it, but it did feel odd in the context of this story.

[00:08:42] Also, the eclipse sequences, especially in the flashbacks, I don't think that really needed to be there.

[00:08:50] Even if it was in the book, I don't think it really added that much at all.

[00:08:54] Visually, sure.

[00:08:58] In terms of horror, one of the most effective uses of brief gore that I've seen recently is Carla Gugino getting out of the handcuffs with the blade.

[00:09:11] Which ends up with her slicing open her wrist, and then a good part of her skin on the bottom of her hand is just flopping off.

[00:09:22] I don't know what was makeup, what was special effects, but truly disgusting to look at, effectively so.

[00:09:30] I'll be curious to read the book at some point, whenever I can get around to it.

[00:09:35] I heard it's overall a lesser work by Stephen King, but I'll read anything Stephen King does, so I'm looking forward to it.

[00:09:45] That is a heavy four out of five.

[00:09:49] It's a heavy four out of five.

[00:09:51] I'll read it.