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View Full Version : Gerald's Game (Mike Flanagan)



Peng
09-30-2017, 06:33 PM
https://33hpwq10j9luq8gl43e62q4e-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Geralds-Game-1-759x500.jpg

Peng
09-30-2017, 06:35 PM
It's apiece of Flanagan's own Oculus, in which past trauma helps frame present horror, but this time with a more rock-solid story that supports its running length and a richer emotion anchor provided by a great Carla Gugino. You can tell the book has been gestating with Flanagan for decades, because apart from meticulous staging of its setpieces and protagonist's psychological trappings, he also faithfully keep in some kooky, borderline-metaphysical details that are very typical of Stephen King. Those elements can make the film a bit messy, especially in the epilogue, but I find it so emotionally potent and cathartic as well. And the director does horrifying justice to the book's most (in-)famous scene, which had me pretty light-headed when I first read it more than a decade ago. 7/10

Skitch
09-30-2017, 06:56 PM
And the director does horrifying justice to the book's most (in-)famous scene, which had me pretty light-headed when I first read it more than a decade ago. 7/10

Slipping the handcuff scene? Made me nauseous in the book.

Peng
09-30-2017, 07:36 PM
Yeppp. A lot of details have gone since I read the book, but that scene remains vivid.

Devlin
10-10-2017, 03:13 PM
Not quite sure what to think of this. Never read the book, so I can't compare.
This was an impressive production, with some very good performances. It was just quite an uncomfortable experience, and I'm not usually very receptive to that kind of film. I'm sure that was the aim here, as it likely was in the book, and to the film's credit it succeeded on that level. However, I doubt I will be revisiting this one.

Skitch
10-10-2017, 09:27 PM
It was an extremely precise interpretation of the book, as I recall (been a couple years).

dreamdead
11-26-2017, 06:20 PM
Mildest of yays, largely due to Gugino's solid performance. It's the sort of performance that legitimates a tricky plot that could be exploitative so easily. Instead, her dual performances show a range of emotions that undergird the intensity of Flanagan's direction. It's lean filmmaking until the coda, which is overstuffed with voiceover in a way that doesn't fit the rest of the film. I wish the film had found some better way to handle that angle.

And yes, the best sequence is likely the handcuff slippage, which embraces the gore intrinsic to the plot, but only after Gugino makes us care.

TGM
12-18-2017, 02:50 AM
I wish I would've known that this was Mike Flanagan earlier. Holy shit, the dude is seriously a genius of horror. This was brilliant!

I do feel that going so into detail with the creeper in the end felt a bit like it was overstaying its welcome a bit, and over-explaining a tad too much, but the rest of the way was good enough to where it really doesn't hinder the full package too badly. This might be my favorite of Flanagan's yet!