Misery, a review by Eric
MiseryOverview:Paul Sheldon (James Caan) barely remembers the blinding blizzard that sent his car spinning off the road into a near fatal accident. Nor does he remember being nursed back from unconsciousness. All he does remember is waking up to the worst nightmare of his life.
Rescued from the accident by his self-confessed number one fan, Paul Sheldon learns that Annie lives vicariously through his novels based on the character Misery Chastain. Grateful to Annie for saving his life, Paul allows her to be the first to read his new manuscript.
From that point on it becomes increasingly clear that Annie has trouble distinguishing fact from fiction and Paul comes to the harrowing realization that he might never leave the home of Annie Wilkes alive.
My Thoughts: Misery has always been and still is one my favorite movies for a few reasons. First, it's in this movie that I saw Kathy Bates for the first time. She always gives wonderful performances but in Misery she's just brilliant. The way she plays the different faces of her character is so credible it makes the viewer feel like he's watching a reality show. Annie (Bates' character) is a not too bright girl, a bit naive in her views of the world but within a snap she can turn into this monster who takes pleasure in hurting this man she's sequestering while claiming she loves him while what she actually loves is the control she (finally ?) has over something.
This is one of a very movies that I find hard to watch because of the way the violence is showed......or not. The director took a very interesting approach in getting to us not by showing violence but by showing, and making us feel, the pain associated with it. Misery has got this very nasty way of showing you how and how much pain Paul Sheldon is about to endure and as if this wasn't enough, the director always gives you a few seconds or minute to realize how bad it's gonna hurt..................almost making you hurt as well.
There is the obvious and well known scene where Annie Wilks puts a block of wood between his legs and breaks both his ankles with a big hammer but that's just one big hard one to watch. There's a few other ones that are just as painful like when she throws a pack of paper on his thighs because she's pissed it didn't like the paper she bought or this other scene when Sheldon gets out of bed the first time and we've given a few seconds to think of how much it's gonna hurt and he pulls his legs out and they hit the floor.
After having seem that movie so many times I can still almost feel that pain myself and this will always remain one of my favorite suspense movie.
I give it a perfect score.
(From Eric's 2009 "Best Effort" October Horror Marathon. on October 3rd, 2009)
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May 17, 2024, 12:31:05 PM
