Looking Back at 2010s Films: Gerald’s Game (2017)

By Tanner Smith

“Gerald’s Game” gets better each time I see it, and I can’t believe I complained about the ending when I first saw it, because this film NEEDED it! It needed the right amount of positivity & resolution after spending an hour-and-a-half in someone’s personal hell. (And it only lasted eight minutes, which is good for something that was originally about 50 pages in the original novel!) It made the film all the more special.

“Gerald’s Game” is based on a Stephen King novel whose story is told from a character who spends most of the time trapped in bed, handcuffed to the posts. How do you make a movie like that? Or, at least, how do you keep it interesting? The same way you make an interesting movie about a character trapped in a canyon (“127 Hours”) or a coffin (“Buried”)–you get a great actor and an even better director. This film’s star: Carla Gugino, in her best role to date. This film’s director: Mike…freaking…Flanagan!

I was already a fan of Flanagan’s by the time “Gerald’s Game” was released on Netflix, after seeing “Oculus,” “Hush,” and “Ouija: Origin of Evil.” So, I had a feeling “Gerald’s Game” would be really good. What he created in adapting King’s novel was something special: the kind of film that practically demands be watched more than once so that more things can be developed and explored when the audience is given the knowledge of where it’s going and where it’s been. The best kind of film, particularly the best kind of horror film, is the one that keeps you coming back for more.

Flanagan’s next film is another King adaptation: “Doctor Sleep.” I can’t wait to see how that one turns out.