Misery

Misery, Along with The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, Misery is one of the best adaptations of Stephen King’s work. On its own terms too, it is a brilliant film with a wonderful atmosphere especially. The film looks very good, with the sets, costumes, locations and cinematography striking and suitably atmospheric. The screenplay is very fine, exploring themes such as fanatical devotion, artistic dilemmas and worthiness of commercial fiction without a psychological suspense context, while the story is always well paced and compelling.

Also outstanding is the direction of Rob Reiner. He adeptly exercises in chilling claustrophobia and allows a numerous numbers of genuine jolts. The acting is great, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth and Lauren Bacall are all great but the film belongs to Kathy Bates who is monstrously scary and deservedly won an Oscar for her brilliant performance.

Overall, Misery is a superb film and one of the best Stephen King adaptations.

Being famous, one has to be ready for many things, but none like what “Misery” portrays. Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is a novelist who gets injured in a car wreck in the Rocky Mountains. His “number one fan” Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) rescues him. But then, after she reads his latest novel, she flips. She holds him hostage, forcing him to write a new novel more to her pleasing. And if it looks like he’s doing anything that she doesn’t like, she can get REALLY nasty…

Kathy Bates won a well deserved Oscar for playing Annie. She is one mean mother. And I don’t mean just vicious; what she does will probably make you squirm. I recommend this movie to everyone except the world’s most squeamish people. In fact, you don’t know the definition of “squeamish” until you’ve seen “Misery”.

The House On Sorority Row