‘Gerald’s Game’ Director Recommends What to Watch on Halloween

In less than a week, October will be upon us and along with it, our desires to consume horror films will increase. Filmmaker Mike Flanagan, who directed an adaptation of Stephen King‘s Gerald’s Game for Netflix, recommended that, for people hoping to get into the Halloween spirit, they check out the film They Look Like People.

“I’ll tell you, one movie that’s really impressed me, and stuck with me over the last few years is actually a really small, independent film called They Look Like People,” Flanagan told Entertainment Weekly. “[It] is one of the best examples of a DIY, psychological horror story that I’ve ever seen. Every time I watch that film, I’d amazed at what they were able to accomplish with essentially no money at all. That one I’m always thrilled to recommend to people. It’s more of a look at mental illness than anything else, but it does have this kind of Lovecraftian undercurrent to it that you definitely see bubbling up there.”

In the film, two former friends reconnect when one loses their job and is in desperate need of a place to live. The duo might have lost touch with one another, but get right back into their old habits like they never separated. As their bond strengthens, the desperate friend’s behaviors become more unpredictable, hinting at a much more terrifying motivation for his actions.

Flanagan definitely knows a thing or two about horror, having directed films like Absentia, Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil. His adaptation of Gerald’s Game comes to Netflix this Friday, a project which he’s been attempting to make for years.

“It had taken me years to come up with a mechanism that I thought would make it somatic without changing the books,” the director revealed to the Post Mortem podcast. “The temptation to make big changes in an adaptation of a story like that was huge and I really didn’t want to do that.”

With the original story featuring a woman chained to a bed alone when a risque sexual encounter turns fatal, adapting the story was easier said than done. You can check out our official review of the film here.

Check out Gerald’s Game when it debuts on Netflix on Friday, September 29.