Misery main backdrop
Misery main poster

7.8/10 • 4.8K

1990-11-301h 47m

DramaThriller

Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now, he’s writing to stay alive.

After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.

Directors
Rob Reiner
Editors
Robert Leighton

Top Billed Cast

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  1. James Caan

    James Caan

    Paul Sheldon

  2. Kathy Bates

    Kathy Bates

    Annie Wilkes

  3. Richard Farnsworth

    Richard Farnsworth

    Buster

  4. Frances Sternhagen

    Frances Sternhagen

    Virginia

  5. Lauren Bacall

    Lauren Bacall

    Marcia Sindell

  6. Graham Jarvis

    Graham Jarvis

    Libby

  7. Jerry Potter

    Jerry Potter

    Pete

  8. Thomas Brunelle

    Thomas Brunelle

    Anchorman

  9. June Christopher

    June Christopher

    Anchorwoman

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Mar 4, 2025

7/10

In a wintery Colorado, acclaimed author “Sheldon” (James Caan) comes off the road only to be luckily (we think!) saved by the timely intervention of “Annie” (Kathy Bates) who just happens to be a nurse. More than that, she’s a superfan of his work and so makes it clear that his care is a labour of love she is well prepared to carry out. Gradually, though, he begins to realise that she isn’t quite the woman she’s claiming to be. He is locked in and isolated, and when she begins to suggest that he reactivate one of the lapsed characters from his novels - well let’s just say she has some fairly unique methods of persuasion at her disposal. With him her “guest”, his publisher “Marcia” (Lauren Bacall) is starting to worry and so a quick call to the local sheriff sees “Buster” (Richard Farnsworth) become the bear in the air as he tries to track him down. With “Sheldon” trapped and fed a diet of sedatives and torment, it’s becoming quite a race to see if anyone can ever find him, let alone rescue him from his increasingly obsessive host. Some of Caan’s facial expressions are super here, especially towards the end - but it’s the menacingly angelic effort from Bates that steals the show here and makes this quite possibly my favourite adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Those, I usually found, were rarely the most substantial of stories, but here he has provided some personas for both to sink their teeth into, and it also delivers one of those scenes that will live in cinema history for ever. The bleakness of their surroundings adds an extra degree of chill and Rob Reiner manages to build then sustain quite a degree of peril from pretty early on in the proceedings. It’s really not for the squeamish, nor probably for anyone who has ever written-out a popular literal character, either!

Media

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  • Misery poster
  • Misery poster
  • Misery poster
  • Misery poster
  • Misery poster
  • Misery poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$20,000,000.00
Revenue
$61,300,000.00
Keywords
based on novel or booknursepsychopathcoloradocar crashauthorslasherpsychological thrillertortureobsessed fanblizzardbedriddenpsycholunaticfemale psychopathclaustrophobicabductedobssesive fanrural settingcrazykidnappedauthoritarianfight for survivalnutcase