Stephen King is pretty much a frowned-upon name nowadays. People heavily into literature (hmm hmm… I’m sure I could name names, but why?) think of him as best-seller fodder. People who barely read think his stuff is too heavy (I kid you not). That’s because of a classic case of too much of a good thing. King’s older novels were brilliant; dark, twisted and scary. When he started writing successfully, King got lazy and his books got lamer. Once in a while, an original story came out but the book wasn’t all that great. The next logical step, of course, is to make movies out of the books. After all, they made six sequels to Friday the 13th, and that movie stunk.

Misery is one of King’s less impressive books, but not in the way you’d expect. If I gave you the choice between a horror book about a killer clown (It) or about a woman who holds her favorite writer captive, you’d probably pick the killer clown. I like It, but Misery makes a better movie for a slew of reasons.

Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is an internationally famous author of romance novels set in the late 1800’s. The main character is Misery, the girl every woman in America identifies with. Sheldon is tired of writing these dime-store novels and fears he is not taken seriously as a writer. He retires in a cottage in Colorado to write the last Misery novel and finally begin a real career. Leaving the cottage during a snowstorm, Paul gets into an accident. He goes off a cliff into a snow-covered valley. He is rescued later by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who claims to be a sweet-natured nurse. She also claims to be Sheldon’s #1 fan. She nurses Sheldon back to health, but under her goody-goody attitude, there’s something much more dangerous lurking.

There really are two stories told simultaneously in Misery. The other one follows the county sheriff (Richard Farnsworth) and his wife (Frances Sternhagen), who are on the case of finding out where Sheldon went. In many ways, Misery resembles Hitchcock’s seminal 1960 masterpiece, Psycho. The story (and novel) is obviously inspired from the film, with Annie Wilkes a feminine version of Norman Bates. Rob Reiner’s direction also borrows heavily from the Master of Suspense. The camera angles, creepy music and whole feel of the film are very, very familiar. Yet, Misery doesn’t feel like a rip-off because the material and acting are thoroughly excellent.

Kathy Bates is incredibly creepy in her excellent performance. (The fact that she looks like my truly insane religion teacher also creeped me out.) She achieves a level of innocence-turned-psychosis that had only been done once: in 1960 by a guy named Anthony Perkins. Unlike Perkins, however, she got the sweet end of the deal and won an Oscar. James Caan is also excellent in a tremendously physically demanding role. He spends a good part of the movie in pain, hobbling around and dragging his stiff legs around. Caan really looks like he’s in pain and really looks helpless at the hands of Wilkes. The late, great Richard Farnsworth gives an excellent performance in the very few scenes he has. Frances Sternhagen doesn’t always fare as well, however. Her role is mostly a broad caricature. Lauren Bacall also has a few scenes as Sheldon’s publicist.

One thing, however, that is not Hitchcockian is the use of the obvious. Like Robert Zemeckis in Cast Away, Reiner relies on little details to point out future twists in the story. That means that the camera will focus on a small detail (i.e. someone putting a gun on a shelf) and linger over it for a few seconds. Not only is this annoying, it also shatters any suspense or surprise the event was supposed to create.

As far as Stephen King movies go, Misery is in the upper echelons. It doesn’t have the feel-good attitude of The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, nor the over-the-top horror of The Shining and Carrie, but instead focuses simply on the relationship between the two protagonists. In a day and age where the more bodies eviscerated horribly means the more money at the box-office, this is a rare thing indeed.




Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older