Netflix has released the trailer for Gerald’s Game, a horror-thriller based on Stephen King’s 1992 suspense novel, which was first announced last year, and it’s predictably not for the faint of heart. Unlike many of King’s works, Gerald’s Game relies not on boogeymen or terrifying clowns, but of the psychological terror of a woman named Jessie (Carla Gugino) who is handcuffed to a bed by her husband Gerald (Bruce Greenwood) in a kinky attempt to put a spark back into their marriage.
Instead, Gerald suffers a heart attack and dies (in the book, she kicks him and he falls and cracks his head open), leaving his wife fighting for survival and a means to escape, in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with no other people around for miles.
Some were skeptical of how the story of a woman essentially trapped to a bed could make for a compelling movie, but judging by the trailer, the film (directed by Oculus‘ Mike Flanagan) gets beyond the setting via flashbacks and Jessie’s own hallucinations to tell the story of a woman forced to confront her own demons while attempting to survive. There’s also, of course, the ever-present, real life terror of a hungry German shepherd who shows up looking for a meal, and finds an incapacitated woman and the nearby corpse of her husband.
In a word: terrifying. Gerald’s Game arrives on Netflix September 29.
