After listening to Nick Toti's speech, I decided that I definitely wanted to watch a horror film for this week's blog. While I'm a huge horror fan regardless, Mr. Toti made me more interested than usual in watching one of the specific genre. So, I picked the most surreal and psychological horror film that Netflix Originals had to offer: Gerald's Game, based off of the 1992 novel of the same name written by horror icon Stephen King. The adaptation is directed by one of horror's brightest new stars Mike Flanagan (Hush, Oculus). The basic plot of the film revolves around a married couple played by Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood. After experiencing extended marriage problems, they decide to get their kink game on in the remote summer house to spice their love up a bit. The situation turns a 180 when Greenwood's Gerald suddenly dies of a heart attack during their "love making," leaving Gugino's Jessie handcuffed to the bed posts, unable to get out of them. Gerald's Game, along with It, has definitely made 2017 a strong year for Stephen King adaptations (minus The Dark Tower of course).
The first thing I want to focus on is the psychology of the film. This is a film that is every bit about a woman forgiving her tragic past as much as it is about her trying to escape. Essentially, the plot is just there to act as a window to exploring this woman's past, eventually taking a back seat to the real plot: Jessie becoming psychologically strong enough to escape her demons, which I think is incredibly interesting. This is the closest movie that I may have ever seen before that actually allows you to know what the character is thinking without a narration. While tied up, Jessie talks to imagined versions of Gerald and herself, which also helps the audience understand how she views Gerald herself as well as how she wishes she really was with the imagined version of herself being calm, strong, and always offering good advise. Had the film been solely about her trying to escape her sexual death trap, then it would have gotten very old very fast.
The film also has a very interesting and thoughtful look at sexual abuse, something that was also explored in It. Unlike It, the sexual abuse is a much stronger element here and, while It did handle the controversial topic well, Gerald's Game handled it stupendously. Without getting to deep into spoiler territory, the events in the film are all basically caused by Jessie being abused as a child by her dad, played very well by a creepy Henry Thomas (by the way, that's Elliot, the little boy from E.T.). Through the use of superb editing, Jessie's past is gradually revealed through impeccably timed flashbacks, something most King adaptations struggle to do well (the original It from 1990). At first, Jessie will act in an odd way towards something seemingly innocent, which at first appears to be annoying. Later, however, the audience is shown why a certain event makes her tick in such a way, not only making her actions understandable but making the audience feel bad after judging her actions. The editing of the film is almost poetic and very reminiscent to the work done on last year's multi-Oscar winner Manchester by the Sea. Had the editing not been done well, the whole sexual abuse aspect would come off as odd and out of place.
I really must also sing the praises of the acting in this film as, for the most part, the film consists solely of the three actors I have previously mentioned, all who did a wonderful job. Gugino definitely shined in her dual role as her imaginary and real self, easily flipping between helpless and distraught to confident and strong. Greenwood is also terrific in probably the best role of his career. For most of the film he plays the imaginary Gerald, a far cry from the lovable, reserved real one who lays on a floor dead while being eaten by a stray dog for much of the film. This Gerald is insincere, narcissistic, and manipulative. I personally have never seen Greenwood go so far out of his acting range as he did here, not to mention he did a great job of doing it as well. As I already have mentioned Thomas himself was also very good, mainly due to his creepy performance. His performance is very important to the success of the film as it is he who holds the whole abuse plot over his head. His performance as a perverted father feels all too real and far more accurate than these kinds of characters are normally portrayed as. It really is so weird seeing the lovable, cute Elliot from E.T. turn into a pedophile creepy dad, but Thomas really does pull it off quite strong.
The only real problem I did have with the film was the last 20 minutes. Without getting into spoilers, the first part of the finale is pretty generic and cliched. It's the kind of ending just by reading this blog post you could probably figure out. The second part is just odd and completely out of nowhere, concluding an unnecessary subplot that felt like it was in the movie just to make it more of a horror film than a thriller. While this subplot is actually generally creepy, it bogged the film down and messed with the overall themes and point of the film.
Overall, I think that Gerald's Game is the second best Netflix Original that I have seen up until this point. If you have not checked it out, I definitely recommend it, especially with today being the inaugural day of October, a.k.a. the month of Halloween. To Mr. Toti, I also recommend the film. It may not be overly surreal like a David Lynch film such as Eraserhead and it may not have an overly indie feel like It Comes at Night or It Follows, I still think it is one of the strongest hollywood horror films to come out in the past couple of years.
After viewing this film last night, I think I have to agree with you on basically every aspect you pointed out. While watching this film, I definitely was seeing the parallels to the original 1990's IT as well as many of King's other film adaptations. Most of them work in some sort of framework (oftentimes including flashbacks), and King seems fixated on the idea of weaving the psychological into a physical manifestation. IT, The Stand, The Green Mile, and The Shining all tackle the natural through the supernatural.
ReplyDeleteNow, I too felt like the additional subplot at the end seemed out of place for the rest of the film. Having the couple's problems, the survival plot of the film, coping with past demons, and facing a supernatural threat was one layer too many. I could have handled having the supernatural act as a symbol in the film never actualized, but when it becomes literal, I agree it complicates things too much. If it has any redemptive qualities, using it in the courtroom to tie together all of her fears was probably the best thing it offered.