Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game is being adapted to a movie by Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Hush) for Netflix.

Gerald’s GameIn 2014, it was reported that Mike Flanagan wanted to develop a movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game from 1992. Since then, it’s been pretty quiet with no real news about it, but now Flanagan says he’s ready to make it. And with Netflix as a distribution platform. Makes perfect sense after the Hush success.

And actually, it all began when Stephen King tweeted that he’d watched Mike Flanagan’s Hush on Netflix, and loved it. After that, Netflix and Flanagan started talking about making Gerald’s Game and now it’s all official.

Gerald’s Game is taking place in a remote location. During a sexual game that goes wrong, Jessie kicks her husband Gerald inducing a fatal coronary. Finding herself handcuffed to the bed in a lakeside cabin with no means of escape, Jessie is forced to face up to her desperate situation. Soon she begins to hear voices inside her head.

The greatest challenge with this book is the fact that most of it takes place inside Jessie’s head. So it’s not exactly an easy film to make. Mike Flanagan explains that he’s spent the last 10 years pondering how to solve this:

“If you know the source material, you’ll know there are a lot of challenges inherent in that story. Not so much the narrative challenges of how to adapt it; it took me 10 years of constantly thinking about the book to crack the cinematic version. But it’s a real challenge for financiers and distributors, who say, ‘Yeah, we love your work, we love Stephen King, but this story, this particular story? We don’t know how it works,’ without reshaping it to fit a much more conventional structure, which I did not want to do.”

Tired of waiting…

Flanagan has another horror movie waiting on release: Before I Wake. The movie has been bumped 4(!) times, and right now it’s just sitting on the shelves with no release date. Because of this, he’s really thrilled about working with Netflix again:

“…And Netflix, because of how well HUSH has done, said, ‘We’re really interested in this, and we’d like to do it the way you want to do it.’ And that eliminated the pressure of having to test-screen the movie and define the demographic that’s going to watch it—all of that stuff that typically comes into the conversation when you’re trying to figure out how to market a film for a wide theatrical release. It just cleared the table, so that I can make the movie I want to make. I’m hoping very much that we can get that movie up on its feet soon.”

It is still unknown when Gerald’s Game is gonna begin production, but we’ll keep an eye on it.

In the meantime, we have Ouija: Origin of Evil (aka Ouija 2) coming out this October, which is yet another Mike Flanagan movie. Watch the truly awesome trailer for Ouija: Origin of Evil right here!

UPDATE October 17, 2016:

Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood

Carla Gugino (San Andreas) and Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek) have been cast in the leading roles, while Henry Thomas (Ouija: Origin of Evil), Carel Struycken (Men in Black), Kate Siegel (Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil) and Chiara Aurelia (Agent CarterPretty Little Liars) will round out the cast. Principal photography begins today in and around Mobile, Alabama.

UPDATE September 6, 2017:

The movie will premiere on Netflix on September 29, 2017.

Read our review of Gerald’s Game here >

I usually keep up-to-date with all the horror news, and make sure Heaven of Horror share the best and latest trailers for upcoming horror movies. I love all kinds of horror. My love affair started when I watched 'Poltergeist' alone around the age of 10. I slept like a baby that night and I haven't stopped watching horror movies since. The crazy slasher stuff isn't really for me, but hey, to each their own. I guess I just like to be scared and get jump scares, more than being disgusted and laughing at the grotesque. Also, Korean and Spanish horror movies made within the past 10-15 years are among my absolute favorites.
Nadja "HorrorDiva" Houmoller
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