Gerald's Game (2017)

Gerald’s Game is a tense, claustrophobic psychological thriller about a weekend meant to repair a marriage that quickly becomes a fight for survival. When a sex game goes wrong at a secluded lakeside house, Jessie wakes handcuffed to a heavy bed with her husband unexpectedly dead. Cut off from the outside world and with no easy way to free herself, she must rely on sheer ingenuity and willpower to survive. The film alternates raw, physical suspense — the mounting urgency of escape, the danger posed by a wild dog, the painfully slow attempts to break the cuffs — with unsettling psychological episodes: hallucinations, flashbacks, and the resurfacing of long-buried memories and trauma. The result is a slow-burning, relentless experience that mixes visceral survival drama with haunting introspection. Viewing Gerald’s Game is an intense, often uncomfortable experience: expect claustrophobic tension, disturbing imagery, and emotional confrontation as Jessie faces both external threats and the darker corners of her own past. It’s a survival story that doubles as a psychological excavation.

Actors: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Chiara Aurelia

Director: Mike Flanagan

Runtime: 103 min

Genres: Drama, Horror, Thriller

5.6 /10 77 /100 6.5 /10 6.6 /10