Misery

Watch: Misery

11/30/19901h 47m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now, he’s writing to stay alive. ~

Overview:

After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.

Director:

Rob Reiner

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$20,000,000.00

Revenue:

$61,300,000.00

Key words:

based on novel or book
nurse
psychopath
colorado
car crash
author
slasher
psychological thriller
torture
obsessed fan
blizzard
bedridden
psycho
lunatic
female psychopath
claustrophobic
abducted
obssesive fan
rural setting
crazy
kidnapped
authoritarian
fight for survival
nutcase

Cast

James Caan

~ as ~

Paul Sheldon

Kathy Bates

~ as ~

Annie Wilkes

Richard Farnsworth

~ as ~

Buster

Frances Sternhagen

~ as ~

Virginia

Lauren Bacall

~ as ~

Marcia Sindell

Graham Jarvis

~ as ~

Libby

Jerry Potter

~ as ~

Pete

Thomas Brunelle

~ as ~

Anchorman

June Christopher

~ as ~

Anchorwoman

Julie Payne

~ as ~

Reporter #1

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 4 month(s) ago
7
In a wintery Colorado, acclaimed author “Sheldon” (James Caan) comes off the road only to be luckily (we think!) saved by the timely intervention of “Annie” (Kathy Bates) who just happens to be a nurse. More than that, she’s a superfan of his work and so makes it clear that his care is a labour of love she is well prepared to carry out. Gradually, though, he begins to realise that she isn’t quite the woman she’s claiming to be. He is locked in and isolated, and when she begins to suggest that he reactivate one of the lapsed characters from his novels - well let’s just say she has some fairly unique methods of persuasion at her disposal. With him her “guest”, his publisher “Marcia” (Lauren Bacall) is starting to worry and so a quick call to the local sheriff sees “Buster” (Richard Farnsworth) become the bear in the air as he tries to track him down. With “Sheldon” trapped and fed a diet of sedatives and torment, it’s becoming quite a race to see if anyone can ever find him, let alone rescue him from his increasingly obsessive host. Some of Caan’s facial expressions are super here, especially towards the end - but it’s the menacingly angelic effort from Bates that steals the show here and makes this quite possibly my favourite adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Those, I usually found, were rarely the most substantial of stories, but here he has provided some personas for both to sink their teeth into, and it also delivers one of those scenes that will live in cinema history for ever. The bleakness of their surroundings adds an extra degree of chill and Rob Reiner manages to build then sustain quite a degree of peril from pretty early on in the proceedings. It’s really not for the squeamish, nor probably for anyone who has ever written-out a popular literal character, either!