‘Misery’ Still Makes Us Cringe 30 Years Later

November 29, 2020

Imagine you are Stephen King, one of the most successful writers of all time. Now, while you are enjoying that fantasy, let your thoughts wander to what kind of fan mail this man must get, especially of the odd, bizarre, and downright creepy variety. As I ponder this, I begin to wonder whether the story line for Misery was something that was inspired by some crazed fan, or fans, over the course of his career. Whatever the case may be, the book was well done, and the 1990 film of the same name captured that sense of horror and dread you need with basically only two actors carrying the movie.

The film introduces us to writer Paul Sheldon (James Caan), who has gone the romantic/romance route surrounding a character named Misery. Hating what he has become, he finally kills her off and settles in at a lodge in Colorado to write a “real” novel. When he’s finished, he packs the book and himself up and heads out, only to get caught in a snowstorm and crash. He is rescued by a fan of his novels named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) who Sheldon quickly discovers is not happy that he killed off Misery. She proceeds to hold the injured writer prisoner until he writes a new book and brings Misery back to life.

Directed by Rob Reiner, Misery quickly becomes a battle of wits and survival between Paul and Annie. The outside world thinks he’s dead and the search for his body centers around the sheriff Buster (Richard Farnsworth), his wife Virginia (Frances Sternhagen), and Paul’s agent Marcia (Lauren Bacall). That’s pretty much it in terms of characters so the whole movie hinges on Reiner’s ability to create a tense and dread-filled atmosphere and Caan and Bates not only selling their characters but being able to play off each other effectively.

Thankfully, the actors make it work.

In fact, it’s interesting to watch the film and think about how much Reiner, let only any director, would actually influence how this movie turned out. Nothing against Reiner, who has directed such gems as The Princess Bride and This is Spinal Tap, but with two veteran actors like Bates and Caan, it really fell to them to make this work. Caan, who can be pretty manic in terms of his performance, plays that down and it’s effective, making you really feel for Paul and his circumstances. However, it’s Bates, long recognized as a solid actor, who makes the film as frightening and entertaining as it is. She balances the sweetness and insanity well, making her very unpredictable and thus the tension builds from scene to scene.

The isolation definitely plays a role in the film, and Caan helps to push that part of the story as his character slowly realizes he doesn’t exactly know where he is. He’s injured and at the mercy of a fan who as it turns out, has maybe let the loneliness and isolation push her into the fantasy world of the Misery books, and tumbled a bit too far down the rabbit hole to be saved. It is an interesting contrast of characters and Caanand Bates, maybe not the pair Hollywood would find fashionable, make it an enjoyable and creepy journey.

To be fair, Misery is not groundbreaking material. The obsessed fan idea had been around for a while and this is merely a spin on that tale. However, a film that could have been very average and just drifted away into the bottom of those bargain bins was instead elevated to something more, and thanks to the setting and some wonderful acting, we are now forever traumatized when snowstorms and sledgehammers enter a conversation.