Just finished Reading Gerald's Game

[Doc Creed]

I saw the movie and liked it except for one part that I was anticipating, which was one of my scariest SK scenes from all of his books. It was when she thought she could see something in the dark shadowy corner, but wasn't sure. That part didn't come close to the book.

Agreed.

 

[Toni_S_UK]

View attachment 29817

Love this!

 

[Toni_S_UK]

I watched the movie adaption over the weekend. I enjoyed it and think they stayed pretty true to the book overall.
It just wasn't as intense as the book (the book is always better though!)

I did love the Stephen King references though, the part where imaginary Gerald referred to the dog Prince as 'Cujo over there' and at another point he said 'all things serve the beam' that made me very happy! Simple things eh?!

 

[Marty Coslaw]

Did anybody else read the edition (maybe they're all like this) where each chapter number is accompanied by a sort of Rorschac image of something from the plot (e.g. handcuffs, eclipse, snarling dog)? Then at one point in the narrative Jessie is lying there trying to decipher the shapes in the shadows cast by the moonlight and thinks that it's like an inkblot test, if I"m not mistaken. I thought that detail really added something to the reading experience, like you're there with her trying to interpret the shapes and silhouettes.

 

[prufrock21]

I would say that that moment in Gerald's Game and the bathroom moment in The Shining are the literary equivalent of a jump scare in a movie. I wonder though why so few of these ever work in novels; even though I think King tries to include them in more works, they never are memorable. While in films there are numerous that are memorable.
My idea is that it's because jump scares rely for a large part on sound: it's often the combination of showing something scary of horrible suddenly and have it accompanied by a loud sound or music cue. Obviously because a writer doesn't have access to the use of sound it's hard to create that same effect on the page.

Both these scenes have in common that suddenly there is a (presumably) human presence in a place that was thought to be unoccupied.

In each case while reading I became so immersed in the moment that each scene was indelibly memorable. As memorable as any movie scene.