Misery (1990) is a thriller movie directed by Rob Reiner starring James Caan and Kathy Bates. It is based on Stephen King’s 1987 novel by the same name. Misery (1990) movie review
It follows an author who gets into an accident on a snowy road and is held captive by a psychotic fan who wants him to write her stories. This colorful character, named Annie Wilkes, is played by Kathy Bates who won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Annie. Her character is also frequently featured on many lists dealing with memorable movie moments and lists of scariest villains.
While at its core it was meant to be based on King’s scariest fans, the movie is actually a visual representation of King’s dependency on drugs. Annie represented the hold that drugs had on him, making him feel worthless, alienated, and unable to escape from its clutches. For many years he struggled with drugs. He eventually overcame it with the help of his wife and author Tabitha King.
From the initial introduction of Annie, the audience, as well as Caan’s character Paul Sheldon, are met with with a person who seems very odd. She has these mood swings that range from being very caring to going completely crazy over small matters. Since Paul is bedridden in Annie’s house, she is in complete control of him. The problems start to pile up once Paul is forced to write for her and he gets suspicious of her intentions. He starts to look into his escape options and realizes that Annie is far from being the caring person she has presented herself to be.
From a midpoint of the movie, the whole story turns into this game of cat and mouse. One character is trying to outsmart the other by taking advantage of the few times they are not in the same room. This is done in such a suspenseful matter because Annie is not a stupid character. She seems always to be one step ahead of Paul. Paul has limited options so every scene he cooks up could be his last. He could run out of ideas, but the worse option is Annie going berserk over any actions she considers to be contradicting her facade of a caring persona. She is not fully aware of her doings so her actions are normal in her mind. This out of touch with reality is what makes her scary and highly memorable.
As the story progresses, Paul runs out of options and starts to truly panic. We are forced to sympathize with him because he is just a victim of a bad situation. We want him to win, but we are not sure if he will be able to win. One scene, the “hobbling” one, will stay with you forever. It is so intense and well crafted that it makes me uneasy to this day just thinking about it. In the book, which I have read, the scene plays out in a more graphic detail. However the movie still manages to make it 10 times worse by being practical in its approach. It shows the true nature of Annie and her hold on Paul’s life.
From this point on, the movie throws all the rules out the window. Caan does a fantastic performance as a man who is forced to think on his feet when faced with danger. He is already in disadvantage by being in bed, so watching him use that to his advantage was phenomenal. The movie uses suspense well with each scene contributing to the overall feel of desperation and hopelessness. The man who directed it watched a ton of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies to get inspirations. He focused on how to structure a simple premise into a story of a man fighting for his survival.
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