Geralds Game was originally written by Stephen King, published in May 1992, and was made into a movie this year, directed by Mike Flanagan. Geralds Game is about how a harmless adventure turned dangerous in a matter of minutes. In the midst of all the fun, Gerald (Jessie‘s husband) has a heart attack, leaving Jessie handcuffed to a bed, defenseless. After hours of trying to get out of the cuffs, Jessie finds herself hallucinating that she is feuding with her dead husband and a second, more sane version of herself. As the story progresses, more in-depth aspects come into play and she realizes if she cannot unchain herself from her past, she will not be able to unchain herself in the bed and “death” will win. This movie is directed towards horror movie lovers and Stephen King fanatics, who will thoroughly enjoy this film.
Seeing as the book, Geralds Game did so well, it was expected that the movie would live up to its expectations and it did just that. It was amazing to see how it all played out on the screen, for example, the voices Jessie heard were actually hallucinations of her dead husband and herself standing beside her debating with each other rather than voices in her head. The film also brought the moonlight man or “death” to life. When reading the book, the Moonlight man gave off a scarier vibe than he had in the movie, but it gave the movie a sense of harmlessness which helped ease the suspense.
The suspense in Geralds Game was done well with the help of natural elements such as day and night and the direction of Mike Flanagan. Flanagan does an excellent job of bringing Stephen King's suspenseful novel to life in the film. In the daytime, Jessie rests because she knows that at any point of the night “death” could come for her but that she is not protected by her dreams, where the suspense grows and the tension in her memories intensifies, having no escape from either day or night. Another element of horror that helps build suspense is the stray dog in the corner, who is growing tired of Gerald’s dead meat and he can smell Jessie growing weak, so the dog hungers for her fresh meat. The music and sound effects also play a big part in the suspense because they drive fear from the viewers to whole new level. Ultimately, Mike Flanagan did a great job at expressing suspense throughout the whole film and kept his audience on their toes.
Carla Gugino plays as Jessie in Geralds Game and really does the character justice in her scenes of the film. One can see the fear and hurt in her eyes, which is very important when it comes to acting and portraying the scene. Chiara Aurelia plays the younger version of Jessie in the film and does a wonderful job during these triggering scenes, while still giving viewers peace of mind. She acted exactly as a person in these situations would especially well for her age. For how well she did, it is no surprise how many films she has under her belt. Overall, Carla and Chiara did an amazing job of giving present-day Jessie and younger Jessie a voice that could finally be heard.
There is always the debate of if “The movie is as good as the book” but the truth is the book is always better. The question people should be asking is “Does the movie give the book justice” because as Stephen King fan, it is common to want people to experience what you have with the book, and in Geralds Game and the movie definitely gives the book justice. Overall, Geralds Game is just what you’re looking for in your horror movie queue and is available on Netflix for your horror movie needs.
References
IMDB. "Gerald's Game (2017)." IMDb. IMDb.com, 29 Sept. 2017. Web. 26 Oct. 2017. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3748172/
Phaire, D. W. (2013). Linking Character Strengths and Learning with Films: A Content Analysis
of Films for Adolescents. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/docview/1289100557?accountid=7374
Stephens, B. (1996) Films in Review. Retrieved from
https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=9603202482&site=eds-live&scope=site
No comments:
Post a Comment