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With Stephen King’s record-breaking box office hit “IT” still in theaters and continuing to blow audiences away with its creepiness, it’s easy for another piece of King’s work to become overshadowed since it went straight to Netflix instead of the theater. Based off King’s 1992 suspense novel, “Gerald’s Game,” a Netflix movie adaptation was released last week.

Although “Gerald’s Game” does not include a clown with red balloons or a gang of misfits, it can still engage audiences with its more realistic horror elements.

The plot follows a couple going on a romantic retreat for the weekend at a secluded cabin. Things take a turn, however, when the husband Gerald wants to get freaky and handcuff his wife Jessie to the bed, but ends up having a heart attack and dying while his frantic wife is still shackled. While stuck with the body of her deceased husband and a stray dog hungry for her dead husband’s flesh, Jessie tries to find ways to survive or escape the handcuffs while enduring helpful but shocking hallucinations that remind her of childhood traumas.

“Gerald’s Game” is definitely a movie for suspense seekers or any fan of King.

It offers a horror that could potentially happen in real life, as well as displaying the effects of childhood traumas such as what the main character experienced. Familiar with King’s work, he tells a disturbing story of a woman’s childhood that can often be touchy and discomforting to discuss.

What was mesmerizing about the plot itself was the way the main character used her fears and dark secrets to help her learn to survive in the secluded cabin.

The plot explored the topic of death and how people who fear it let that fear control them.

It also sets handcuffs as a symbol of fear and secrets, letting those elements shackle you and keep you from spreading your wings and escaping the darkness that holds you fast.

“Gerald’s Game” explores pragmatic elements of horror and suspense, as well as graphic characterizations and methods of escape.

While this movie is entertaining and mind-boggling, it is not recommended for the faint of heart.