Misery (1990)

Director:

Rob Reiner

Writers (WGA):

Stephen King (novel)
William Goldman (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 November 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

This Christmas there will be... Misery.

Plot:

A famous novelist is "rescued" from a car crash by an obsessed fan.

Plot Keywords:

Fan | Blizzard | Obsessed Fan | Novel | Ceramic

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

James Caan	...	Paul Sheldon
Kathy Bates	...	Annie Wilkes
Richard Farnsworth	...	Buster
Frances Sternhagen	...	Virginia
Lauren Bacall	...	Marcia Sindell
Graham Jarvis	...	Libby
Jerry Potter	...	Pete
Jerry Potter	...	Pete
Thomas Brunelle	...	Anchorman (as Tom Brunelle)
June Christopher	...	Anchorwoman
Julie Payne	...	Reporter #1
Archie Hahn III	...	Reporter #2
Gregory Snegoff	...	Reporter #3
Wendy Bowers	...	Waitress
Misery the Pig	...	Herself

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

A video of When Harry Met Sally... (1989) (also directed by Rob Reiner) is visible in the general store.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Paul types "what else was there...?", it is on one line in the close-up but two separate lines when he writes "The End".

Quotes:

Annie Wilkes: When I was growing up in Bakersfield, my favourite thing in the whole world was to go to the movies on Saturday afternoons for the Chapter Plays.
Paul Sheldon: [nodding] Cliffhangers.
Annie Wilkes: [shouting] I know that, Mr. Man! They also called them serials. I'm not stupid ya know... Anyway, my favourite was Rocketman, and once it was a no breaks chapter. The bad guy stuck him in a car on a mountain road and knocked him out and welded the door shut and tore out the brakes and started him to his death...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Misery: Diagnosing Annie Wilkes (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

I'LL BE SEEING YOU

When a fan crosses the line between admiration into obsession

Misery is without a doubt one of the best films of the 90's, and in my opinion, Stephen King's best adaptation into a movie. This is TRUE horror, there's no monsters, no mega special effects, just Kathy Bates who is truly made the big time on one of the scariest villains in horror movie history.

It's about a man named Paul Sheldon, he's an author, made incredibly famous by his popular books, specially his series called "Misery", the books are apparently about a woman in the old days who goes through heavy times in her life and he shares her pain and strength with the readers. When he finishes his last Misery book, he decides to celebrate and is heading back for his daughter's birthday, but he gets caught in a horrible blizzard and gets into a nasty and fatal car accident, but is saved by Kathy Bates, or as we know her Annie.

He wakes up in a bedroom with his legs badly broken, bruised up, and cut up, but hears a light and charming voice saying "You're going to be just fine. I'm your number one fan!". Annie nurses Paul back to health and says she'll get an ambulance once the storm clears up. She's so lovely and charming, you would never have any clue that she'd even just harm a fly. But when she gets ahold of Paul's last Misery book, she gets infuriated when she finds out that he's killing off Misery and continuing onto more dramatic and dark stories. She makes him write a new Misery where she is resurrected, Paul used to write for a living, now he's writing to stay alive. Discovering slowly how crazy Annie is, he tries to escape more and more, but Annie is so convinced she's in love with him, she'll never let him go!

Kathy Bates truly is the amazing star of the film, she is so disturbing to watch. Especially during the "hobbing" scene, she breaks Paul's legs again, she makes it seem so innocent, but it's HORRIFYING to watch! Both her and James worked so well together and were just incredible. The movie is so awesome, I would highly recommend this movie for anyone! It's a movie not to be missed.

10/10