Now streaming on Netflix
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood
This may defeat our purpose, but try to watch this movie without hearing much about it. That being said… I walked into this movie (clicked into this movie?) without knowing much – the basic concept is Jessie (Gugino) and the titular Gerald (Greenwood) take a long weekend at their vacation home to spice up their romantic life. Jessie is not that excited to be engaging in some kinky handcuff action that Gerald escalates. Then the movie gets dramatic by getting simple.
I’ll save spoilers. The movie is dedicated to keeping the feeling claustrophobic. But director and screenwriter Mike Flanagan creates a compelling structure for the actors to drive the momentum forward – don’t want to reveal much, but it’s an entertaining exercise. The situation of escaping the handcuffs, then bed, then house becomes a series of problem-solving puzzles, one after the other: kind of like a uncomfortable version of The Martian. The movie delivers these little thrills and highs – and then, through flashbacks set in a visually arresting eclipse, the movie punches you in the GUT. In a horror flick with spurts of extreme physical violence, this flashback is definitely the most unnerving and uncomfortable thing about it. Fuck you sometimes, Stephen King, you dick. It’s hard to call this movie enjoyable, because that certainly wasn’t my experience, but that seems to be its intention.
It’s such a small movie that would fall apart if the performances weren’t there; Greenwood is fun and wolfish, clearly having fun. Gugino is amazing – she’s an open nerve and magnifies the movie, with the camera twelve inches from her face at all times. She’s well-serviced with the direction and plot – up until a point. That point would be the extended post-finale finale that nobody needs. Explaining away the only mysticism in this simple story and going off on a tangent (in an otherwise taut and concise film) seems to be indebted to the King material.
Watchlist-Worthy? Yes, would recommend – not a feel good hit, but a unique and challenging bit of horror for October.
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[Spoiler Section Where We Talk a Specific Instance of Gore]
HFS. The degloving. This movie locks into the primal body horror in torturing Jessie’s hand, in much the same way as the Achilles in Pet Sematary, teeth in American History X, and the wrist in Green Room. It’s truly gnarly and wince-inducing for me. Yuck. But effective. Effectively yuck.
