Film Review : Gerald's Game (2017)

Rating: 8.5/10

Genre: Thriller/ Horror

Related films: 127 Hours, Phonebooth, Devil

By Leanne Harragan

When Jessie accidentally kills her husband Gerald during a kinky game, she finds herself trapped. Handcuffed to a bed with no means of escape she must face her demons. 

Based on Stephen King’s book I should have been more prepared for this dark, dark film. I knew nothing about this film going in and at first wasn’t even overly interested in watching. This soon changed about ten minutes in and I was engrossed especially by Carla Gugino’s (who played Jessie) acting, it was incredible and I felt that she really through herself into the part. Bruce Greenwood (Gerald) was also standout in this film; side by side these two actors were a joy to watch.  By the end I physically couldn’t tear myself away from the screen as much as I wanted to at times!

Film’s that are set in small places are I think can be particularly hard to keep the audience interested, but this film works wonders with its one room setting. Chained to a bed you’d think that not much would really happen; until visions begin to appearing and she begins to have eerily, vivid dreams about her childhood. The character development of Jessie was impressive and she had to fight her own inner demons trapping her, alongside the physical trap of the heavy-duty handcuffs chaining her down.  I want to give special mention to the ending of this film when she faces all her demons at once and you see a new side to Jessie that just sets her free.

I don’t want to give away too much about this film as I feel it would ruin it for anyone that would like to give it a try, but I will add that there are some deep topics that are openly discussed and it’s not one for the squeamish to watch.