''Gerald's Game'' is a 2017 American

psychological horror Psychological horror is a genre, subgenre of horror fiction, horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and Mental state, psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre freque ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed and edited by Mike Flanagan, and screenplay written by Flanagan with Jeff Howard. It is based on

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

's 1992 novel of the same name, long thought to be unfilmable. The film stars

Carla Gugino Carla Gugino ( ; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After early roles in the films '' Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989), '' This Boy's Life'' (1993), '' Son in Law'' (1993), and '' Snake Eyes'' (1998), Gugino received wider recognition fo ...

and

Bruce Greenwood Stuart Bruce Greenwood (born August 12, 1956) is a Canadian actor and producer. He has starred in five films by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan and has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards, once for Best Actor for '' Elephant Song'' ...

as a married couple who arrive at an isolated house for a holiday. When the husband dies of a sudden

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, his wife, left handcuffed to the bed without the key and with little hope of rescue, must find a way to survive, all while battling her inner demons. ''Gerald's Game'' had its world premiere at

BFI Southbank BFI Southbank (from 1951 to 2007, known as the National Film Theatre) is the leading repertory cinema in the United Kingdom, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films. It is operated by the British Film Inst ...

on September 19, 2017, and was released on September 29, 2017, by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. It received very positive reviews from critics, who lauded Gugino's performance; Flanagan's direction. The film's themes and their treatment were also singled out.

Plot

Jessie and Gerald Burlingame arrive at an isolated lake house in

Fairhope, Alabama Fairhope is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, located on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay. The population was 22,477 at the 2020 census. Fairhope is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area, which in ...

, for a romantic getaway. While Gerald takes

Viagra Sildenafil, sold under the brand name Viagra among others, is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is also sometimes used off-label for the treatment of certain symptoms in secondary Ray ...

, Jessie offers raw steak to a stray dog before her husband leads her to the bedroom, leaving the door to the house open. Hoping to rekindle their relationship, she changes into a new

slip Slip or The Slip may refer to: * Slip (clothing), an underdress or underskirt Music * The Slip (band), a rock band * ''Slip'' (album), a 1993 album by the band Quicksand * ''The Slip'' (album) (2008), a.k.a. Halo 27, the seventh studio al ...

and he handcuffs her to the bedposts to enact a rape fantasy. She soon tells him to stop, leading to a heated argument, and Gerald suddenly dies of a

, leaving Jessie trapped in the handcuffs. Hours pass and the dog enters the house, eating pieces of Gerald's corpse. A hallucination of Gerald taunts the helpless Jessie about their strained marriage and his erectile dysfunction. Dehydrated and fatigued, Jessie also hallucinates a more self-assured version of herself, who explains things about her and Gerald that she never had the courage to acknowledge. The hallucinations trigger her to remember a glass of water Gerald left on the shelf above the bed, which she manages to reach, rolling the price tag from her slip into a drinking straw. Night falls, and a deformed figure with a bag of human bones and trinkets briefly appears in the bedroom. Gerald suggests this "Moonlight Man" is

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

waiting to take Jessie, but the dog's reaction and a bloody footprint leave her unsure whether he is another hallucination. Gerald calls Jessie "Mouse", her father's nickname for her, triggering her memory of a family vacation during a solar eclipse: alone with twelve-year-old Jessie, her father coaxed her to sit on his lap, masturbating while she watched the eclipse, then manipulated her into pretending the assault never happened. Forced to accept that she continued this cycle of repressed trauma in her unhappy marriage, Jessie dreams that the Moonlight Man is licking her foot. She wakes up to find it is the hungry dog, which Gerald points out will soon try to eat her. He explains how long it will take for her body to be discovered, and warns that the Moonlight Man will be back for her after dark. In a dream, Jessie is confronted by her childhood self, who cut her hand on a glass shortly after the assault. Determined to escape, Jessie breaks the water glass and cuts her wrist, lubricating the cuff with her own blood and

degloving Degloving occurs when skin and the fat below it, the subcutaneous tissue, are torn away from the underlying anatomical structures they are normally attached to. Normally the subcutaneous tissue layer is attached to the fibrous layer that covers m ...

her hand to slip free. She reaches the handcuff key, unlocking her other hand and bandaging her wrist with sanitary pads, but passes out. Waking up in the dark beside Gerald’s mutilated corpse, a delirious Jessie confronts the Moonlight Man and gives him her wedding ring for his bag of trinkets. She drives away, but hallucinates the eclipse and the Moonlight Man in the backseat; he whispers "Mouse" in her ear, and she crashes the car, but is rescued by neighbors. Six months later, Jessie writes a letter to her twelve-year-old self. Using Gerald’s life insurance to start a foundation for fellow victims of sexual abuse, she is haunted by nightly visions of the Moonlight Man, and is disturbed that the police search of the lake house never recovered her ring. News reports reveal that the Moonlight Man is actually Raymond Andrew Joubert, a

necrophilia Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction or acts involving corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its ''International ...

c grave robber and serial killer with

acromegaly Acromegaly is a disorder that results in excess growth of certain parts of the human body. It is caused by excess growth hormone (GH) after the growth plates have closed. The initial symptom is typically enlargement of the hands and feet. There ...

who has finally been caught; he mutilated Gerald’s body for his collection of grisly trophies, but spared Jessie. Jessie arrives at court as Joubert is being arraigned. He breaks free of his handcuffs, and mocks her, saying, "You're not real, you're only made of moonlight." Seeing Gerald and her father in him, she tells him, "You're so much smaller than I remember," and leaves in triumph.

Cast

as Jessie Burlingame ** Chiara Aurelia as "Mouse" (Young Jessie) *

as Gerald Burlingame, Jessie's husband *

Carel Struycken Carel Struycken (; born 30 July 1948) is a Dutch actor. He is known for playing the Giant/Fireman in the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017), the occasional guest role of Mr. Homn in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987– ...

as "Moonlight Man" / Raymond Andrew Joubert *

Henry Thomas Henry Jackson Thomas (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had the lead role of Elliott Taylor in the film '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and rece ...

as Tom, Jessie's father * Kate Siegel as Sally, Jessie's mother * Adalyn Jones as Maddie, Jessie's sister * Bryce Harper as James, Jessie's brother

Production

Development

On May 19, 2014, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'' reported that Mike Flanagan had been set to direct a film adaptation of

's suspense thriller novel ''

Gerald's Game ''Gerald's Game'' is a 1992 suspense novel by American writer Stephen King. The story is about a woman whose husband dies of a heart attack while she is handcuffed to a bed, and, following the subsequent realization that she is trapped with lit ...

'', scripted by Jeff Howard. Trevor Macy produced the film through

Intrepid Pictures Intrepid Pictures is an American independent film and television production company dedicated to producing elevated commercial content for global mainstream audiences. It was founded in 2004 by Trevor Macy and Marc D. Evans, and is currently run ...

. In an interview with ''Rue Morgue'' in September 2016, Flanagan stated that the film adaptation would be released by

Casting

and

were cast to play Jessie and Gerald Burlingame, along with

, Kate Siegel, and Chiara Aurelia.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

on the film began on October 17, 2016, in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

Release

The film was released on September 29, 2017, by

Critical reception

''Gerald's Game'' received positive reviews from critics. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

site

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 79 reviews, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The website's critics consensus states, "Carla Gugino carries ''Gerald's Game'' small-scale suspense with a career-defining performance." At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 77 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Stephen King called the film "hypnotic, horrifying and terrific" after watching the

rough cut In filmmaking, the rough cut (also known as the first cut or editor's cut) is the second of three stages of offline editing. The term originates from the early days of filmmaking when film stock was physically cut and reassembled, but is still ...

References

External links

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