Warning: if you are disturbed by feet and sledgehammers, give this one a miss.
Author Paul Sheldon (James Caan), is finishing his latest novel in a remote cabin in Colorado. Upon completion, he begins to drive home when he gets stuck in a blizzard and gets into a serious car accident. He is rescued by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), a nurse and his number one fan, and is taken to her farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. She patches him up and starts to take care of him until he is well. When she gets the latest book in his “Misery” series, she is unhappy with the ending, and keeps him hostage until he writes another book to correct the previous one.
My synopsis sounds kind of tame, but the movie has some genuinely disturbing scenes in it. Annie has a lot of uncharacteristic moments where she loses it and flips out. There is also the scene where she performs a procedure called “hobbling” and tells him that no one is coming for him, so if she dies, he dies. Most of the movie takes place in Annie’s house, but some others take place in the town. Screen legend, Lauren Bacall, makes a cameo in this movie as Paul’s agent in New York. She calls the sheriff to enquire about Paul’s whereabouts, as he has not been seen in a while. The sheriff, Buster, starts a search.
One of my favourite scenes is when Paul is writing the new Misery book, and Annie complains about the lack of continuity. She goes on to tell Paul that when she was a kid, she used to go to the movie theatre and watch the serials/cliffhangers/chapter plays. Her favourite one ended one week with the main character being put into a situation that he shouldn’t have been able to get out of, until the next week where he did. This made her angry since they just cheated everyone watching. According to her, “he didn’t get out of the cock-a-doodie car”.
This is more of a thriller than a horror, and there isn’t a lot of violence or gore. It’s what she might be capable of that is the most unsettling part. If you were famous, would you want to meet someone who claims to be your number one fan?
Linsey Loves Horror 