Gerald's Game has Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood as a couple struggling in their marriage. In an attempt to spice things up during their weekend away, Greenwood handcuffs Gugino to the bed, and then proceeds to die of a heart attack. Now Gugino needs to try to keep her wits about her while she figures a way out of this predicament. It's not going to be easy.
I know this was based on a novel, which I haven't read, but can see according to Wikipedia is 350 pages; but it felt like there was only enough material here to make a great Tales from the Crypt episode, not a 103-minute movie. About 20 minutes in we were spinning our wheels, and I don't know that all of it was fluff padding the film until we got to the end, but a good portion of it was. Then there was an extended ending that felt tacked on and inorganic, and in a way betrayed a lot of what made this unique for a scary movie by trying to give us a more traditional boogeyman. I liked the idea and what they were trying for, I just think it could have been more effective in a smaller package.
Again, I haven't read the novel this was based on--in fact I haven't read anything by Stephen King before, beyond the first three pages of Pet Sematary translated into German in my German translation class in college, but I do respect him as one of Maine's most successful literary figures. At least from what I know of him, this definitely had the brutality he's famous for, and I think the film makers were able to carry that through. Maybe I should read the novel to see how this story is carried over 350 pages, because it's possible that what felt like padding and spinning its wheels in the movie, read much quicker in the novel. It's funny how that works: 10 pages that might take 15-20 minutes to read can feel shorter than 5 minutes worth in a movie.
One of the biggest tropes in the DTV movie is bondage or the damsel in distress (and one of the biggest tropes in online movie reviewing is using the word "trope," but I digress...). It's common to see either the female lead tied up in some way, or even see the male hero tied up--like Miles O'Keeffe yelling "no!" in Ator. I think it dates back to the old pulp detective books that spawned a lot of the DTV genres we know, and when it involves the damsel in distress, can run into that vibe of control that borders on sexual deviance/embracing violence against women, but done through the surrogate of a baddie so anyone enjoying it can assuage any guilt they might have. It's not like that in all cases, but I think for the ones where it is that, this movie really turns that trope on its ear. There's nothing sexy or seductive about any of this, it's uncomfortable right from the start. One could say it's an answer to Fifty Shades of Grey twenty years prior, but for me I think it's an answer to those pulp novels that were probably prevalent when King was growing up, which to me makes it an answer to the standard damsel in distress paradigm that we've become accustomed to.
As far as I can tell, this is not available on DVD. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. On the one hand, I almost never buy DVDs anymore; on the other, it seems like you can't own this, you can only stream it if you have Netflix, so in order to rewatch it you need to keep you subscription up. I love that Netflix has so many titles available to stream, which gives me as a movie blogger many more options like this film to review; and I also know that my wife and I have a bunch of DVDs we no longer watch because it's easier to stream if it's available on a streaming service or On Demand than it is to get the DVD out, put it in the player, then get up and take it out when it's finished--plus we have an issue with finding space for all our stuff, so not having to get DVDs of all the titles we want to watch helps us; but it does put you in a tough spot if they've released a movie that you want to rewatch, because the DVD is a one-time price of $20 (or less), while Netflix is a monthly fee you have to keep paying.
It's always a treat if we get to use our "The Guy from ET" tag. The funny thing is he plays Carla Gugino's dad in flashbacks, but they're the same age in real life. The not so funny thing is that he's a not-so-great dad. From this profile shot, he kind of looks like Mickey Thomas of Starship. I think he's still touring the country, singing hits like "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." I imagine those shows cater to people my age and older, with plenty of seating and wine in plastic cups. Maybe REO Speedwagon and The Outfield are on the same bill. I get a few cups of Cab Sav in me and next thing I know I'm standing and belting out the lyrics to "Sara", when the couple born in the late 60s sitting behind me yells for me to sit down, and my face turns red and I apologize. As I sheepishly try to return to my seat, I miss it altogether and fall in the grass, the remnants of my wine flying out of my cup and covering my face.
Before we get too knee deep in the hoopla, let's wrap this up. I'd be curious to know how close this is to the King novel, because that might tip the scales for King fans. For me, I think it would have been great in a smaller package, maybe in the format of a Tales from the Crypt episode or something like that. It is available to stream on Netflix, but as far as I can tell, because it's a Netflix original, that's it, you can't get it anywhere else.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3748172
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