This was fantastic. Carla Gugino kills it and Mike Flanagan is really starting to impress me as an upcoming director. I wasn't a big fan of Oculus, but I enjoyed Hush and Ouija: Origin of Evil. This is easily his best film yet and I honestly can't wait to see what him and David F. Sandberg do next. I've never read or heard of the novel, but if someone was tell me it was based on something by Stephen King I honestly wouldn't be surprised.

This movie just oozes with his kind of dark malevolence, especially those nightmare/flashback sequences. There's some truly creepy and striking imagery in this as well that I loved.

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I thought it was solid. Gugino was great. I agree those eclipse scenes, while creepy given the context, were absolutely stunning to look at. One scene had my hand over my mouth the entire time. The ending wasn't great though. But that's to be expected from Stephen King.

Flanagan did a great job with the film.

My friend posted to Facebook: "WORST FILM IV EVER SEEN". I'd never even heard of it!!

Gugino is fucking hot, though.

Well that's a little extreme . Reviews are fantastic. I'm a little surprised by how good they are but it's definitely a good flick.

This Stephen King adaptation is well-acted (a definite career highlight and chance to shine for Carla Gugino) and stylishly crafted, but it slightly irritated me, too. It almost defuses the incredibly claustrophobic and isolated nature of the heroine's predicament—chained to a bed in an empty vacation home over half a mile from the nearest person—with so many busy flourishes: her trains of thought rendered as imaginary conversations with her dead husband and a version of herself, scenes from the past revealing traumatic sexual abuse, etc. It would be even scarier if felt...lonelier, if it embraced silence and shadow a bit more often. And the last five or so minutes are just obviously poor: overly expository, odd, heavy-handed, calling out to be cut. At the same time, though, there are a few ingeniously executed, hard-to-forget moments of suspense and violence, and Gugino's physical commitment and emotional intensity truly are quite captivating.

B-

Another Mike Flanagan snoozefest. It's only worth watching for Gugino's committed performance. C

Carla Gugino carries this movie and its a well made movie aside from the final moments. It only fails in generating that chained-alone-in-the-house feeling aside from one scene with Moonlight Man. The entire movie having the conversations with husband and self images was distracting and took away most of the suspense from the movie. I never read the book but given the ending I really don't feel like reading it anymore.

6/10

Gerald's Game

Fuck me, what a superbly intense film. I had no idea really what to expect when I decided to watch this, and sometimes those are the best ones. It is a film of many faces. One moment petrifying, the next problem-solving, then contemplative, and finally wince-inducing. The cast is fucking great; Gugino obviously puts in a spectacularly committed performance, and the ripped Greenwood just gets to relish playing the bad guy. Great film. I kind of guessed it might've been based on a book about half way through, but really had no idea until I saw Stephen King come up at the end. Oh, and that final reveal is extremely frightening.

A

This has a great premise, and there's intrigue in what's to happen next, but it's child abuse angle and molestation don't feel very fresh. I did really like the ending and Gugino acts desperation well, the back and forth with the voices unveiling back story keeps things interesting, but it's a too superficial also making it not really haunting. The ending with the crypt creeper being real gave it a good energetic finish.

B