Misery

Misery is really a little masterpiece of drama and thriller.This story is simple: writer Pul Sheldon has a car accident and is helped by Annie Wilkes.This stay turns slowly into a kidnapping. The performances of Kathy Bates and James Caan are excellent. But we must also thank Rob Reiner for this very good dark story.

Rob Reiner took good care of Stephen King's young characters in the coming-of-age drama Stand By Me in 1986. And so it was probably a deciding factor for King to finally allow his novel "Misery" to be adapted to the big screen that Reiner signed on as director. The lacking success of King's previous screenwriting efforts led the producers to William Golding for the adaptation. And although Golding delivered an effective script which kept in line with the plot of the book, he arguably missed the most vital part: getting under Paul Sheldon's skin, making us feel his pain, his suffering and his fear. In that respect, Reiner's film only grazes the surface, and a somewhat offhand James Caan doesn't help this cause. That being said, the perversity and intensity of the novel is retained and made aptly cinematic by Reiner, who utilizes and gets the best out of Kathy Bates in the lead. Her constant shifts between feelings of adoration and disgust for Paul, between wanting to control him and wanting to be swept off her feet by him like an unfledged teenager, make her performance as Annie Wilkes intriguing, chilling and hilarious at the same time. She deserves her canonical status as one of the great movie villains. There are also delightful performances by the wonderful Richard Farnsworth and King favourite Frances Sternhagen as the town's ageing sheriff and his wife.

Misery has to be the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel. A close runner up is Stand By Me, but for suspense and tension that just gets tighter and tighter, watch Misery. Kathy Bates can go from nice and cheerful to downright crazy like someone turning on a light switch. While watching James Caan suffer through the torture that Bates puts him through, you can't help but sympathize with the guy. Rob Reiner presents us with the problem, and he slowly escalates the tension and the dread that creeps over the movie. Even though the book was different in the "hobbling" process, Annie Wilkes' method of hobbling still gives me the chills whenever I watch it.

So after a lot of years of watching horror movies and loving horror movie adaptations of Stephen king books, i realised i had never watched Misery, after watching it i realised i should have took the time to watch it many years ago.

The story is about a writer who having finished a book decides to return home, but on his return he has a accident and is rescued by his number one fan after that things take a dark twist while he is trying to recover from the accident, the story in this film is brilliant and gripping, you are always on edge of your seat wanting the main character to succeed its very believable which makes you fully emerged in the film.

The acting in this is brilliant and makes this film stand out, James Caan and Kathy bates are so believable, you genuinely hate but want to understand Kathy Bates's character and you are constantly behind James Caans character wanting him to succeed.

A great movies for horror and Thriller fans, Worth a watch to anyone who's interested in either genre.

Misery is without a doubt one of the finest movies of the 90's and one of the best movies in the thriller genre. It is an ingeniously crafted horror masterpiece that seamlessly intertwines its incredibly tense and cleverly paced story with inventive cinematography, tight editing and exquisite performances. In my opinion Misery is one of the better adaptations of Stephen King's works and truly a movie that cannot be missed, especially for the genre fans.

Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is the author of a successful series of romance novels about a character called Misery, who decides to take a more serious approach regarding his future novels. On his way to publish his new manuscript, Paul drives from his hotel in Silver Creek to New York. Due to the extreme weather conditions, he has an accident that leaves him severely injured and hopeless. A local nurse named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) finds Paul and brings him to her remote home in order to help him recover. Claiming to be his number one fan, Annie discovers that in his last Misery novel her favorite character dies and then her obsession about him takes a dark and twisted turn as a long story of captivity and abuse begins.

The direction by Rob Reiner is phenomenal and on a Hitchcockian level as the film has a plethora of perfectly crafted suspenseful moments that have the audience on the edge of their seats from the beginning till the amazing climax. The editing of the movie is also flawless, as the shots are specifically designed to induce tension in any moment they can. The cinematographer and Reiner both ace the perilous atmosphere of the picture, using close up shots of the moonfaced Wilkes both in her fits of rage and kindness which magnifies the polar extremes that Wilkes is prone to unexpectedly visit. What is also triumphed is the slow convergence of the audience and Paul Sheldon. The movie received a lot of critical acclaim, especially due to Kathy Bates' chilling and memorable performance as Anny Wilkes that earned her the 1990's leading actress Oscar award, which remains the only Oscar ever given to a Stephen King film adaptation. No matter how great Kathy Bates' Oscar-winning performance is, James Caan's cannot go unnoticed as it definitely qualifies as one of the best performances in his extensive career, despite how demanding and challenging his role as Paul Sheldon was.

In conclusion, Misery is a dark and tense masterpiece that is an amalgamation of excellent direction, skillful writing, taut editing, amazing cinematography and stellar performances, which succeeds into creating the feeling of captivity and helplessness that the thriller genre was purposefully built for, and that makes it one of the best movies of the 90's and one absolute classic in its genre.