the50xbomb

Yet another hit King adaptation that's practically perfect and a horror classic. Again it excels at everything Carrie did but Misery is surprisingly more tense throughout. Of course a big round of praise for the actors Kathy Bates and James Caan who practically make this film. It doesn't really show much up until the end and lesser actors would absolutely not be able to sell the amount of tension and fear that's required to keep this one interesting. I mean the whole setting is claustrophobic and small yet Misery never feels restricted or dull through its hour and forty minute runtime. In fact, most of the time the film is at its weakest when it deviates from the farm and focuses more on the Sheriff character, I still don't understand what he contributes to the story. The ending is also a bit of a letdown as you can tell it must've been filmed rushed or as an afterthought, but everything else, super good.

What I always admired about this film is its ability to hold back the good stuff until it really deserves it. It plays with the supernatural in smaller ways throughout but it's more focused on developing these characters beforehand which is really what gives Carrie substance. Not to say there isn't anything goofy about it, you get a lot of camp and excess from the movie's villains, but it's still well done in portraying Carrie as an ultimately sympathetic protagonist, we care about her and that's what matters the most. This is something I will admit that Stephen King does very well, he sets the premise and then works up to the climax in a way that feels natural and deserved. And of course there's always that extra help directors do when adapting his works that ultimately makes the story simpler and better. I'm glad this one's always been a staple of horror as you can tell the cast and crew worked really hard on it despite some clear "made for TV" moments. Only huge knock against this one is the awful soundtrack.

In a way the broken logic of House's filmmaking is its own horror, it's disorienting and nonsensical as anything could be really. This works both for the movie and against it as House is undeniably annoying for most of its runtime. But that in turn makes it incredibly watchable and entertaining as well and even in today's modern cinematic landscape there's still not much like it. I enjoy the enthusiastic performances of the cast, I enjoy the dated and goofy looking visual effects, and I enjoy the fact that the underlying story is simple enough to give the film at least some kind of cohesion. Make no mistake though this one's not for everyone and like I said, this one can be super annoying. More so on the soundtrack side of things, I think the tunes themselves are good but hearing that piano piece one time too many got irritating. If you're willing to put up with an experience, go with House, it'll always find ways to surprise you. But don't expect it to be a smooth ride all the way to the end.