Review of Misery (1990) by Michael Y — 25 Aug 2011

From the brilliant mind of Stephen King, Misery is one of his creepiest and most entertaining. This adaptation serves the book right by casting a great cast and a a great director to make this thriller a classic.

James Caan stars as famous writer, Paul Sheldon, who has written a successful series about a character named Mistery Chastain. One day he drives his car into a snowy Colorado town and gets in a car accident, but to be saved by, coincidentally, his #1 fan. But his nurse fan becomes obsessive, keeping him prisoner in her house until he writes a sequel to Misery that is worthy in her eyes. Misery is delisiously creepy that just gets creepier, and it's all thanks to the Oscar winning performance by Kathy Bates. Her Annie Wilkes is funny, perky, and spontaniously evil, all roled into one. James Caan's struggling performance is also wonderful to watch. And the sheriff husband and wife adds a lot of dark humour. Misery isn't just creey, but if flows so wonderfully, and the clever events that Paul goes through in order to try to defeat Annie is very exciting. At times it might be cliche, but it is always a suspencful surprise.

Rob Reiner directs this creepy tale with great fashion. This movie doesn't even feel like a thriller most of the time. It doesn't follow the usual style and cliches other thriller movies use. It's directing is somewhat subtle at times, but that only builds up the suspence even more. There are moments that are captures perfectly. When Annie speaks, the use of tracking closeups, the unnerving use of cinematography and the music score create an incredibly effective atmosphere. The filming of the small town is great too. Very small, everyone knows eachother kind of town, and it lightens the atmosphere a bit, but creepy to know that there is a horrible crime being commited in the seemingly perfect town. The set of the house is very detailed and decorated, and when the moment comes, the claustrophobic feel of the movie raises to a great level.

Misery is an incredibly thrilling story and an incredibly thrilling movie adaptation. A simplistic but creative story about obsession and the struggle of survival that everyone can get into, Misery is definitely amongst the best thriller movies..... more or less because of the ankle scene that will stay in your head forever.