User Reviews

"Misery" is not a true-blue horror movie, but in incredible adept exercise in chilling claustrophobia nevertheless contains numerous jolts. Rob Reiner masterfully adapts one of Stephen King's best works, aided by a superb (and Oscar-winning) performance from Kathy Bates.

Never ask a person obsessed with you to take care of you, because you'll end up like the co-protagonist of this film, you'll see your free will suffocated by an oppressive love.

delightfully written and acted. I love a good what would you do scenario - imagine writing books while hostage. bravo at the suspense.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This movie starts out nice enough but soon we see all is not as it seems. It only gets worse. And worse. Great film.

One of the best Stephen King Film Adaptations ever made onto this earth!!!!!!1

I read the book and then watched the movie right after. I loved both. I do think, as is usually but not always the case, the book is better, but this movie still does a great job at it. It's terrifying to me. Realistic. People like Annie exist, and it's reminiscent of stuff i've been through and fear because reasons, like me being physically disabled. I think the actors did a phenomenal job. I was literally cringing and ****

Did Kathy Bates give the best performance of all time in this? Found this engaging and fun all the way through.

Along with The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, Misery is one of the best adaptations of Stephen King's work. On its own terms too, it is a brilliant film with a wonderful atmosphere especially. The film looks very good, with the sets, costumes, locations and cinematography striking and suitably atmospheric. The screenplay is very fine, exploring themes such as fanatical devotion, artistic dilemmas and worthiness of commercial fiction without a psychological suspense context, while the story is always well paced and compelling. Also outstanding is the direction of Rob Reiner. He adeptly exercises in chilling claustrophobia and allows a numerous numbers of genuine jolts. The acting is great, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth and Lauren Bacall are all great but the film belongs to Kathy Bates who is monstrously scary and deservedly won an Oscar for her brilliant performance. Overall, Misery is a superb film and one of the best Stephen King adaptations. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This is certainly a tense and sinister film, very much a psychological thriller, more than a horror film, in my opinion, although I wouldn't recommend it to the particularly squeamish but it's not entirely choc full of jump scares or constant gore. I suppose the jump scares, when they come, are a bit more impactful though, due to this, if that makes sense but I'd classify it as primarily psychological based. I found the characterisations probably the best aspect of the film, with great performances from both James Caan and Kathy Bates. Paul's frustration and desperation to leave his confines makes for quite a gripping watch, although there are some parts of the plot which may be a little slow moving for some people's taste. I suppose as time moves on, some film viewers may be more impatient than those of the past perhaps. The topic/theme of obsessive fans is, if anything, more relevant or contemporary than ever in the age of social media, I reckon and so it makes for a somewhat thought provoking watch as well. The presence of the typewriter made me think of The Shining (also based on a Stephen King novel), only in this instance its not the villain who uses it, rather the victim. This is certainly a decent film that's, as I say, well worth a watch and so I would recommend it, yes.

To be honest, I got to know about this movie on twitter. I decided to watch it and after watching it, I thought why people don't talk about this movie anymore. It looks like people have forgotten about this movie. Movie was very nicely made. The main leads did a brilliant job, especially Kathy Bates. She did her role so perfectly, it felt as if this role was meant for her only. You will start hating her character, which is meant to be hated and will start getting afraid of her whenever her scene comes. The story was taken from Stephen King's novel and I think they did decent job in adapting it. The direction was good but felt weak in some parts. The pacing and environment setting was spot on. Overall, this movie should be given a try. I think it's too much underrated and it deserves to reach wider audience.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

The most intense thriller I've ever seen, I thought I was going to have a heart attack, a masterpiece in it's genre and one of the very best films I've ever made in my opinion.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Adapted from Stephen King’s 1987 novel, Misery tells the story of bestselling author, Paul Sheldon (James Caan), rescued from the wreckage of a near fatal car crash by his “No.1 fan” the seemingly solicitous Annie Wilkes. What follows is typical King fare, a psychological game of cat and mouse that ranges from the surprisingly droll to the disturbingly brutal. As Stephen King adaptations go, Misery is fairly well done, a faithful if slightly pacified version of a story that naturally hooks us in. It’s really elevated by two fantastic lead performances with James Caan playing captive writer Sheldon with an understated brilliance. The real stand out, however, comes from Kathy Bates (an Oscar winner for her role), who plays the unpredictable Annie with a remarkable level of complexity and realism. A subplot involving Richard Farnsworth’s Sheriff meanders along, but the bulk of the film is a two-player game, complete with scenes of biting tension, sporadic violence and unnerving tenderness. Marc Shaiman’s score adds a chilling touch that suits the film’s slow build from the typical to the terrifying. There are enough gems of excitement in Misery to keep us interested (even at a slightly stretched 107-minute run time), but the film lacks both the introspection and horror of its source material. There are moments of greatness (the famous ‘hobbling’ scene springs to mind), but much of the film is approached with a heavy-handedness, never as clever nor as scary as it seems to think it is. Nevertheless, the film remains pretty much consistently entertaining, with just enough surprises to keep it afloat. In the end, Misery may be rather uninspired, but it’s a loyal and well-crafted adaptation **** story, elevated by a scintillating central performance from Kathy Bates.

Not bad and not special. I could say at least that it's the decent Stephen-King-movie (because as many as I have watched, they are all boring as hell).

With some exceptions - i think "Misery" is a very well-made movie with good story, great acting and script. It had it all. I think i'll watch it again someday

Bates did a great job as Annie but I wasn't a fan of the whole sub-plot with the Sheriff because that took the focus away from Paul and his increasingly dire situation. Also, I felt that Paul's portrayal wasn't really on par with what could have been. Not saying that Caan did a bad job, He was fine, but I felt that the character was just poorly written and it wasn't until the very end where we see that mental anguish that was missing for most of the movie.

After a serious car crash, novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who claims to be his biggest fan. Annie brings him to her remote cabin to recover, where her obsession takes a dark turn when she discovers Sheldon is killing off her favorite character from his novels. As Sheldon devises plans for escape, Annie grows increasingly controlling, even violent, as she forces the author to shape his writing to suit her twisted fantasies. Elevated by standout performances from James Caan and Kathy Bates, this taut and frightening film is one of the best Stephen King adaptations to date. I'm gonna give Misery an A.

An amazing movie. You can feel the terror the author felt for most of the movie thanks to the beautiful score and Kathy Bate's stellar acting in this. A classic thriller that didn't need twists to keep me on the edge of my seat