MISERY ~~~~~~~~~ (1990) USA, 107 mins
THE CREDITS: Directed by Rob Reiner…Starring James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
THE VERDICT: Spine-chilling drama from horror maestro Stephen King, featuring an outstanding, Oscar-winning performance from Kathy Bates.
THE RATING: * * * * (out of 5)
Geez, French and Saunders had a field day when they set to work on
parodying this! Sorry, non-British readers may not be familiar with French
and Saunders - my apologies. The pair are British comediennes (Jennifer
Saunders later went on to become Edina Monsoon in "Absolutely Fabulous"),
who did a series of film spoofs a few years back, including ALIEN
That may be the most memorable scene, but it's certainly not the only worth watching. Stephen King, whose film and TV adaptations tend to vary in quality, strikes gold with this simple yet strikingly compelling tale. It's a nicely crafted psychological horror, which effortlessly succeeds in drawing you into the plight of writer Phil Sheldon (James Caan). Rescued from a car accident by Annie Wilkes (Bates), who introduces herself as the writer's "number one fan", he soon becomes her prisoner.
Both the script and Kathy Bates' beautifully masterful performance (for which she won an Oscar) work arm-in-arm as we quickly begin to realise that beyond her bubbly exterior the woman is basically as nutty as a fruit-cake (or is that fruity as a nut-cake?). Bates relishes her demanding role, and her performance is nothing short of a masterpiece. At times she seems like an innocent victim of her own obsessive behaviour, at times she's a rather tragic character, and more often than not she's just damned scary!
This is basically a very simple tale, but it achieves a large degree of eloquence in its simplicity. It's an involving, engrossing experience - and considering it's basically a two-hander, mainly set in one locale, it's a remarkable piece of cinema. There are no jazzy special effects or cheesy action sequences - this one relies solely upon Rob Reiner's stylish directing and the wonderful performances of Bates and Caan. Oh, I haven't really mentioned Caan yet - he does a good job as the writer who's a prisoner of his own success (Annie is obsessed with him and his books). But, as you no doubt gathered from the above - Bates is well and truly the star of the show. Along with the pig, of course! Anyway, the tension is built-up with masterful aplomb, and some scenes are almost agonisingly tense. There's the dinner scene where Seldon goes to nerve-shattering lengths to poison her wine. He succeeds, but...she knocks the glass over! I bet you threw a pillow at the screen as well! In the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson - "D'OH!!"
Other nerve-wracking scenes include the bit where Annie has gone off to town and Sheldon starts snooping around the house. We cut to Annie in her car - she's on her way home...he realises this and tries to get back to his room...cut to the car again, she's getting near...will he make it? OK, so these sequences aren't exactly original, nor perhaps unpredictable - but they work! Boy, do they work! If a film has you on the edge of your couch, biting your nails and shouting at the screen in suspense, then it's doing something right!
Of course, the most nauseating sequence is the aforementioned "hobbling"! Annie realises her captive has been out of his room, and she's going to stop him once and for all. Cue a block of wood placed strategically between his ankles and a huge sledgehammer, and...I feel ill just thinking about it! Nasty. It all builds up nicely to the final scene where Sheldon finally gets the upper hand, and once and for all tries to kill the crazy psycho! And then we're given one of the most ridiculously over-the-top fight scenes I've ever seen. She gets hit over the head with a typewriter, set on fire, head smashed against the wall - and she just won't die! Sheldon isn't in terribly good shape either. If it weren't so gorey it would almost be laughable.
But it's a terrifically effective film, and therefore the daft climax is easily overlooked. MISERY is a tight, tense, intense and chillingly entertaining thriller. The directing is first-rate, and the performances - Bates in particular - contribute to making this a suitably nightmarish little gem. Wonderful stuff. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- For more regularly-updated Film and TV reviews, check out my site! http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Bungalow/4960 -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Review written by and (c) Rory B Mackay, 1998
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