I am a sensitive person when it comes to horror movies. I try to make myself see as few as possible, but sometimes I am just too curious, and, well, curiosity killed the cat. At least I have made a deal with myself to never catch up on the list of Stephen King adaptations I haven't seen yet. Misery is only half as scary as The Shining which is a movie I swore I will never ever see again.
The movie Misery is not as brutal as the book. It is another Stephen King adaptation which the author wasn't happy with, and if you only know the book and thus expect a die-hard splatter movie with chopped off limbs then I must tell you: NO. You are not going to see that.
Bestseller author Paul Sheldon (played by James Caan) has a car accident and is rescued and taken care of by nurse Annie Wilkes (played by Kathy Bates) who turns out to be an absolutely devoted fan of his books, especially the Misery series. When she finds out that her beloved character dies in the latest volume, Annie is determined to make Paul change the ending - under any circumstances...
The horror in Misery is mostly silent (think Silence Of the Lambs rather than Saw) and yet omnipresent due to the incredible performance of Kathy Bates. (For those of you who are not sure who Kathy Bates is: the other nice rich woman besides Rose in Titanic. Hilary Swank's mother in P.S. I Love You. The hippie woman sharing the hot tub with Jack Nickolson in About Schmidt.) You gotta love that woman. One minute she has an absolutely contagious smile, and the next minute she seems to be a demon straight from hell. Few actresses can pull that off so easily, and giving Bates the Oscar was one of the most appropriate decisions Hollywood has ever made. If you want to see great acting in a horror movie which is suitable for the more sensitive movie addict (;-) ), you should give Misery a try.
RATING: 4/5
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