Gerald's Game - Netflix, Stephen King's bedroom kink ends badly

Directed by Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Hush)

Oh, Stephen King and horror, I guess I’ll just

[notices Carla Gugino]

Um… let me know if it’s any good.

As far as the horror elements, Gerald’s Game is fairly tame. It really is mostly the main character struggling to get out of bondage while dealing with her ever-increasing thirst, hunger, and isolation. Lot’s of flashbacks to her life leading up to that moment, etc.

That said, if the movie is faithful to the book, there is one ultra-tense gory bit that will be a total freakout if done right. Seriously faint-inducing shit.

So not scary but oh my god this one scene is life changing horrible to watch.

Good to know. :)

This is one of the rare Stephen King books that I’ve actually read. The other was The Langoliers. I really enjoyed Gerald’s Game. Very creepy from start to finish.

Spoilers for that scene:

Did you watch 127 Hours? Don’t Google “de-gloving” if you want to stay sane.

I did not watch that movie. But I know what that second thing is and I am totally fine with missing this forever now.

Well now I’m interested you secrety people. I will probably regret this.

Got home from work, turned on the trailer, turned it off half way since it made me very uncomfortable

Watched this last night and it wasn’t at all what I was expecting but, damn, what a tense and creepy thriller. I really liked what they did in the final section of the film too.

I looked into Mike Flanagan and had no idea he was behind Hush and Absentia, two films I really enjoyed. Guess I ought to check out Ouija and Oculus now too. So far it seems he has a thing for lonely females in danger

Oh and about that scene:

I had no idea about this bit beforehand but when she made that particular cut with a view to sliding her hand through the handcuffs I was like ‘Surely that’s just going to peel all her skin off?’ and… yup, that’s exactly what happened. “De-gloving” is a new term to me but holy fucking shit that was nasty. I had to watch through my fingers while making muted cries.

We saw it a few weeks ago, and yep, that scene delivered the goods as far as gross horror scenes go. Also the dog scene. But what got me was the tacked on Stephen King kind of flourish ending that he likes to throw out occasionally. I’m not a horror writer, but if I were, the whole story sticks to realism, but then you add the last 10 minutes of unbelievability. Why? Why did we have to understand she wasn’t temporarily crazy, and that there was this added boogeyman that was actually there? It seemed unnecessary.

Similarly, my favorite King book is The Stand, which I loved for the semi-believable journey of everything going to hell after a human species affecting event. But then the end came along. It wasn’t a journey of post-apocalypse, it was a good v. evil, god v. devil story. Which tapered my enjoyment, despite my love for the majority of it.

Yeah, not sure why I posted this comment there rather than here, but the ending nearly killed the film for me. So dumb and unnecessary.

I’m 100% in agreement.

All spoilers below.

Haha, oh man, both my girlfriend and I really liked it! It was like a reverse twist. You shrug those scenes off as all in her head, even with the suspicious bloody footprint, the dog running off and her engagement ring disappearing. It would have been so safe to end the film after the crash but I admired the boldness of that final reveal or wrinkle in the story.

Another film might have tried to convince you he was real to begin with, the gotcha being he was an illusion all along, but Gerald’s Game flipped that. We both liked the way it reframed all those creepy but ultimately ‘nyah, whatever’ scenes. Suddenly she had been observed and visited at night and that was even creepier to us. I don’t think I’ve had that kind of twist before where it made earlier scenes bristle a bit more.

Actually, I suppose Don’t Look Now did something similar but that was too absurd for me. It was more of a quirky footnote here than the climax (to an otherwise dreary film). I understand the criticism though, and I knew while that whole scene was unfolding that it would be divisive.

Did anyone notice the moon just creeping out of the way of the sun in the final shot? Nice little touch.

I didn’t notice that with the moon, I’ll have to rewatch it at some point.

What’s funny is how much it bothered me she fed waygu beef to a dog. I remember turning to my girlfriend and telling her someone better die in this movie, because that was a crime.

Yeah, I’m not familiar with that kind of steak but when Gerald said it was worth $200 a steak I was like ‘For the love of God!’. Gerald even mentions it later in the film “It was real Kobe!” or something, which made me laugh at that point. I’m curious how different it would taste because that sounds like too much money for my palate!

I’ve had it once, but it’s not like eating other steak or beef, per-se. This description really doesn’t do it justice, but imagine the worst bacon you’ve eaten. Now imagine the best, rendered and best cooked pork belly you might have had. They seem worlds apart in taste. One is a rich, savory bomb of an experience, the other is just … bacon. Similarly, you wouldn’t eat 16oz of pork belly unless you were insane or trying to die, and I wouldn’t suggest anyone eat a huge waygu steak. It’s rich, savory, juicy, and beefy in taste. If you’ve ever had a really well marbled cut of ribeye, it’s similar in that a lot of the taste is the fat itself, less so from the meat, directly. And at least to me, it tasted different than what I expected. It has a melt in your mouth quality that our American raised beef does not have. That’s the marbled fat within it. It’s super rich, similar to the experience of pork belly, at least to me.

I had it in small, thin cuts cooked rare. There are other ways to have it, but I was happy to have been with a group that did it, as we all compared our experiences afterward.

There are a few online groups (crowdcow as an example) that do a group purchase kind of thing if you ever wanted to try it, but being that sought out, and from Japan, it’s not going to be cheap. There are Americanized takes on waygu you’ll see sometimes on menus. Those I have not had, but apparently aren’t the same in taste or experience.

It’s very good, but it’s not generally worth the money. There’s a wagyu specialist restaurant that’s opened up in London recently which I want to to try, though, as it has a relatively reasonably priced fixed menu for lunch. I imagine the wagyu portions for that are tiny.

I think people sometimes forget how pulp-y King’s work really is. It’s not bad per se but the kind of ending plot twist people are complaining about here is exactly the sort of thing King would do at least back in the 1980s. Not sure if he’s gotten more sophisticated since then.

I loved the inner monologue bits, I was kinda wondering how the movie would work knowing the basic premise.

Anyway, overall solid: I’d recommend it, 3 out of 4 stars.