The 1990s were a gold mine for horror classics. It was a decade that produced such hits as;Scream,The Silence of the Lambs,The Sixth Sense,Candyman,andThe Blair Witch Project.Through all of those successful movies, one in particular stands ahead of the pack.Miseryhit theaters on November 30th, 1990. The film adaptation of a Stephen King novel of the same name was directed by Rob Reiner and is widely considered to beone of his best films. The movie stars Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes and James Caan as Paul Sheldon. The latter of which is the author behind the hit novel seriesMisery, a set of Victorian romance novels whose main character Annie Wilkes has a deep passion for. While several Stephen King adaptations have fallen short of pleasing fans,Miseryhit the mark as one of thebest Stephen King movies so far. There are several things that went into the success of the film. Let’s examine a few areas that helped to makeMiserythe best horror film of the 1990s.
It All Starts With Kathy
Prior to 1990,Kathy Bateswas a relatively unknown actress. After actresses Anjelica Huston and Bette Midler both turned down the role, it was the suggestion of writer WIlliam Goldman to cast Bates in the role. Bates’s portrayal of Annie Wilkes is a horrifyingly stunning one as the actress truly loses herself in the character. It is widely considered to beone of her best performances. The sweet and caring demeanor which she displays at the beginning of the film is quickly engulfed by rage and psychosis as her obsession over Paul Sheldon and his fictional creation is revealed to the audience. Displeased with Sheldon’s decision to kill off the lead character of his series, Misery Chastain, Wilkes will stop at no length to keep Sheldon in her home as if he were her pet as he rewrites Misery’s fate. Not only did Bates’s performance land Annie Wilkes the 17th spot on theAFI’s 100 Years… 100 Heroes & Villainslist, but the role earned Bates the Oscar for best actress in a leading role in 1990. To go from a virtual unknown to Oscar winner after one film takes immense talent. The kind displayed by Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes.
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Atmosphere & Isolation
One story telling device used commonly in horror is the feeling of isolation, feeling boxed into the atmosphere that the story takes place. The setting ofMiseryis almost a character in and of itself in the film and should be considered one of themost atmospheric horror movies of all time. Director Rob Reiner and cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld do a fantastic job of establishing just how isolated Annie Wilkes’s house is and how trapped Paul Sheldon is in his captivity. Not only does the Wilkes house stand in the middle of nowhere among the aftermath of a blizzard, but the room housing Sheldon is a small room. The audience is left wondering if Sheldon were to get past his captor, where would he even go? How far would he make it in his hobbled condition? The fear and dread felt by Sheldon through this predicament caused by his isolation is in turn felt by the viewer. When a filmmaker can make the audience feel what the characters are feeling, that achievement helps to make a movie that can stand the test of time and place itself above the other movies it is compared to and pitted against at the box office.
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The Scene… Yep, That One
Every movie that we consider to be a classic contains one particular moment or set of moments that make that film stand out in our head forever.Miserycontinues this trend in cringe-worthy fashion. In the Stephen King novel that the movie is based on, there comes a point in the story where Annie Wilkes must ensure that Paul Sheldon has absolutely no way of escaping her obsessive imprisonment of him. Wilkes takes it upon herself to viciously sever one of Sheldon’s feet with an ax. This moment is a shocking one to read printed on the pages of the novel, as it is a moment that Annie Wilkes and her obsession begin to turn deadly.
Every adaptation of a book into a film is sure to have its changes, andMiseryis no different. When it came time for this moment to be written into Rob Reiner’s screen version, he made the decision to tweak the moment just a bit, overriding writer William Goldman. In Reiner’s mind, seeing Wilkes cut off Sheldon’s foot on screen would cause the audience to hate her rather than sympathize with her mental state as he intended. The decision was made to have Annie break Sheldon’s ankles instead. This decision would help to create one of the most heart-racing, horrifying, squint-your-eyes and turn-your-head, moments in cinema history. How the filmmakers thought this was a more appealing scene worthy of our sympathy for Annie is a mystery in and of itself. But it did create one of the most intense moments in horror movie history, helping to cementMiseryas the memorable classic it is and without a doubt the best horror movie of the ’90s.
