BEFORE: OK, I don't have an Easter-themed movie, but I've got something for Earth Day tomorrow. (Hint, Bruce Greenwood will still be here for that, after carrying over from "The Sweet Hereafter" again today.).
THE PLOT: After trying to spice up her marriage in a remote lake house, Jessie must fight to survive when her husband dies unexpectedly, leaving her handcuffed to their bed frame.
AFTER: One downside to doing what I do, watching films late at night or more accurately, in the wee hours of the morning, is the fact that I then have to go to bed shortly thereafter, and this has led to some memorable nightmares. After describing the plot of this film to my wife, she said that it reminded her of the plot of a Stephen King movie, and sure enough, this is based on one of his stories - she happens to have an encyclopedic knowledge of his books, where I've only seen most of the movies based on them. That reminded me that the remake of "Pet Sematary" is in theaters now, so if you're looking for a more appropriate Easter movie to go see today, that seeems more in line with the holiday. That being said, there is something almost crucifixion-like about the way that the lead character here is handcuffed to the bed, with arms outstretched, knowing that her time is running out. OK, maybe that's a bit of a reach.
But this film also shares something with the recently-watched "127 Hours", which is fairly obvious, and the hallucinations, madness and hearing/talking to imaginary people as seen in "The Voices". There's even a notable plot point shared with yesterday's film "The Sweet Hereafter" but I'm not going to reveal it here, because spoilers. It's enough to say that her current situation forces Jessie to recall a childhood trauma, and finally come to terms with it. You mean you haven't heard of the new therapy where someone chains you to a bed in a remote house, with no possibility of rescue, and as you face starvation and dehydration you also face all your repressed memories from your past? I hear it's all the rage these days. Hey, if people fell for planking and the cinnamon challenge, nothing seems too weird or outrageous any more. Somebody, somewhere must have tried to lose weight by getting themselves handcuffed, because then they can't be constantly snacking, since their hands can't reach their mouth. Call it "The Hostage Diet" and that idea is worth something.
But for God's sake, if you're going to play "Fifty Shades of Grey" with your life-partner, at least have a safe-word, a spare key to the handcuffs, and a back-up plan, like a trusted friend on speed-dial. Make sure your phone can voice-dial someone - or hey, maybe Amazon can use a situation like this to promote buying an Echo for the bedroom. Saying "Alexa, call 9-1-1" could have helped cut this tragedy short.
NITPICK POINT: For that matter, I could be wrong here but I think that the bedposts depicted didn't have a cross-beam on top, because there was a shelf there instead. So throughout all of Jessie's convoluted attempts at getting free, some that worked and some that didn't, could she have gotten loose by just simply standing up, and working the handcuffs up over the top of the bedposts? It's tough to tell, they didn't just taper up to a thinner point, there may have been a larger knobby bit closer to the top, which could have prevented this from working, but I say it should have been at least worth a shot.
During her ordeal, Jessie imagines herself having conversations with her husband, or a mental version of her husband, as well as an idealized version of herself. There's also a stray dog, probably real, but as suggested by "The Voices", these imagined entities could be representations of her state of mind, or her way of communicating with parts of herself, like her own id (the dog), ego (herself) and super-ego (her husband? No, that can't be right.). Well, the super-ego can represent the influence of people who've stepped in and taken the place of parental figures, and a conscience that prohibits our fantasies and desires - so OK, maybe the husband is the super-ego.
There's also a fourth entity that she sees/imagines in the room, much creepier than the others, and ah, now I'm seeing the Stephen King influence here. The ending that explains this, however, feels really sort of tacked-on, and also quite problematic. I can't say anything more here, even an N.P., without blowing it.
In retrospect, there are a ton of references to other Stephen King works, from "Cujo" to "Dolores Claiborne" - the IMDB has a pretty good list on their "Trivia" page for the film, but I'm sure there are others. Like, it's all connected, man... I've only got a couple of Stephen King-written films left to watch, I think just "1922", "Children of the Corn" and "The Dark Tower". Thankfully, I'm not that obsessive about it - but if I can get to those films, I will. We were in a bookstore yesterday and I saw some new Stephen King book, but it was small, no more than 100 pages, and I wondered if he wrote that book one morning, while waiting for his coffee to brew or something. The guy's got like 300 writing credits on the IMDB, but I'm betting not every film or TV movie based on his work counts as required viewing. But a movie version of "Doctor Sleep", the sequel to "The Shining", is due out in November (from the same director as "Gerald's Game"), that might be worth a look.
Also starring Carla Gugino (last seen in "The Singing Detective"), Henry Thomas (last seen in "All the Pretty Horses"), Carel Struycken (last seen in "The Witches of Eastwick"), Chiara Aurelia, Kate Siegel, Adalyn Jones, Bryce Harper.
RATING: 5 out of 10 little blue pills
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