2017 Hit Film Once Deemed ‘Unfilmable' Ranked Among the 'Best Horror Movies of All Time'
An array of Stephen King's novels have been adapted into some of Hollywood's finest horror films, with a 2017 psychological thriller making the list as one of the best of all time. The film is based on the author's 1992 novel, with a storyline once thought to be unfilmable.
Before I Wake directorMike Flanagantook on the challenge of bringing King's "Gerald's Game" to life on the big screen. The film was released on Netflix instead of in theaters and starred Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood in the leading roles as married couple Jessie and Gerald Burlingame. Like the original novel, the film takes a wild turn right from the start and focuses on the psychological madness of one's thoughts.
The crux of Gerald's Game occurs as Jessie and Gerald take a trip to a remote lake house in the hopes of reigniting their spark. Gerald takes Viagra, while Jessie slips into something more comfortable and gets handcuffed to the bed. Her husband tries to enact a sexual assault fantasy that leads to a heated argument, and Gerald suffers from a heart attack and dies. Jessie is now trapped with no way out, the door of the lake house open, and she soon begins to battle her inner demons.
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Gerald's Game was ranked by Rotten Tomatoes as one of the Best Horror Films of All Time at No. 82. The film was well received among critics, having gotten a 91% rating from the site and commenting that "Carla Gugino carries Gerald's Game's small-scale suspense with a career-defining performance." Many praised Flannigan's creative direction of the film, with King having praised the directing, calling the on-screen adaptation "horrifying, hypnotic, terrific."
King's 1992 novel was once believed to be unfilmable, with The Independent reporting that every major moment happens within the first 10 minutes. Jessie is left tied to the bed for the rest of the film, with the outlet commenting, "How do you fill another 90 minutes of screentime with your leading character trapped in one location?"
Flannigan also agreed that he, too, found it "unfilmable" after reading the book as a teen, but it's "really impossible to adapt." To make the storyline work, the director knew the trick was to make things visually interesting. He decided to keep Gerald throughout the film as a manifestation of Jessie's inner thoughts "by taking that inner monologue and making it an outer monologue."
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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 10:21 AM.