A great idea ultimately squandered by an extremely slow pace, uninteresting pieces of dialogue, and a godawful final ten minute narrated ending. Seriously, if you're going to watch this movie, the minute the cops find her on the ground in the forest and the screen cuts to black, shut the movie off right there. Everything that happens after that ruins the movie. It's a hack sequence. But the biggest set-back for me was the under-utilization of the concept. You have this great idea, a woman strapped to a bed at night, no one around, no one to help, and it's getting dark out. Think of all the absolutely terrifying things that could happen in that scenario. Instead, she just has these arguments with herself and her now deceased husband. Talk about throwing away a great set piece. Now, I'm not saying these parts are bad at all, in fact they're some of the best parts of the movie, but I expected much more from this, a full length feature. It feels like a short film that was stretched out to an hour and forty minutes, which was way too long. This could've easily just been a twenty five minute short film or something. The dialogue and editing needed a lot of work; lots of trimming should've been done. Ultimately, I think it's a cool idea, but stretched too thin to it's bare concept, and the ending ruins the movie. Also, why does every single fucking Stephen King story have to have a pedophile? I get that he's a talented writer in some regards, but goddamn King, you are very predictable. People hate unnecessary jump-scares in movies? Well, I hate unnecessary narration.

Mike Flanagan has absolutely bowled me over, yet again. We've had some good Stephen King adaptations in 2017 (and some bad ones, lookin' at you _Dark Tower_), but _Gerald's_ _Game_ gives Andy Muschietti's _It_ a run for its money as the best one of the year. The core story of _Gerald's Game_ is enough to earn it a passing grade, but everything surrounding it (and after it) elevates it to the next level.

_Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time._