Get Comfortable In Bed, You Might Be There For Awhile

Author+Stephen+King%0APhoto+credit%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fsnl.no%2FStephen_King

Author Stephen King Photo credit: https://snl.no/Stephen_King

Pilot Deslauriers, Contributor

The movie adaptation of Gerald’s Game, by Stephen King, was directed by Mike Flanagan and stars Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood as Jesse and Gerald Burlingame. The story, which was published in 1992 and adapted into a film in 2017, has a total recurring cast of only five characters: young Jesse, adult Jesse, Gerald, “The Moonlight Man” aka (Raymond Andrew Joubert), and Tom (Jesse’s father).

Taking place in a quiet bedroom inside a lakehouse in Maine, the story stays with Jesse after a nice getaway weekend with her husband Gerald goes horribly wrong. Handcuffed to the bed by her husband, who only minutes later has a heart attack, Jesse finds herself unable to move from the bed and trapped once again by the men in her life. Over the course of a few days, Jesse starts to hallucinate about her dead husband and a version of herself as she struggles to escape her current situation. Fighting to escape both physically and psychologically from her situation, Jesse pushes her physical limits and barely makes it out of her physical confines before fainting. She awakes at night, exhausted in every way, and limps out of the house, driving off to find help. She is able to gather just enough strength to find help before falling unconscious. She then finds herself in the hospital being questioned about her situation. She gets surgery done on her right arm and spends the next six months recovering and telling her story of abuse to others, helping them overcome their own trauma. 

This film captures a “What-if” situation very well. What was a… not so innocent experiment turns into a test of Jesse’s willpower and want to survive. What starts off as a romantic weekend get-away, turns into a fight for a woman’s life as she has limited water, time and resources. I liked the way the movie was shot and filmed, showing us both the external struggles as well as the internal struggles that Jesse faces. You see why she ended up with a man like her husband, as well as why she was opposed to her husband’s ideas. The twist ending was also satisfying and left me feeling very relieved that the final question wasn’t left off without an answer. The film is very interesting and, as a viewer, you feel the tension grow as the movie progresses and the severity of Jesse’s need to escape increases. 

I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes psychological horror, twist endings, Stephen King’s work, as well as anyone who enjoys director Mike Flanagan’s work, which includes a lot of movies and shows such as Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Doctor Sleep, and Haunting of Hill House. The lead actress is extremely talented and has acted in multiple films in the horror genre, such as The Haunting of Hill House, Unborn, and Judas Kiss. Personally, this movie is one of my favorite pieces she has been in.

Warning for those who are not interested in, or sensitive to, the following topics: gore, sexual abuse, self-harm, sexual content, and/or horror.