Misery

Stephen Kind himself has always claimed that Rob Reiner creates the best film adaptations of his work, and bothe Stand By Me and Misery demonstrate this. Reiner (director of When Harry Met Sally) has assembled a solid cast of character actors for his riveting, white-knuckle psychological thriller.

Rescued from a snowy car crash in Maine (where else?) by a retired nurse, Paul Sheldon, a romance novelist, should think himself lucky - especially seeing as ex-Nurse Annie is his number one fan. Unfortuantely, Annie is starting to show signs of being one or three sandwiches short of a picnic... in fact she's missing the whole basket. Trapped in her secluded farmhouse in the snow, with a broken leg and dislocated shoulder, all Paul Sheldon can do is watch while Annie gets further and further into his latest book, in which her favourite character dies. She's going to be upset....she's going to be mad...

With a brilliant screenplay adaptation by William Goldman, which plays down the (little, if non-existant) gore and furthers the suspense and character development, Misery is a classy, usnettling film. Fine acting, including an Oscar-winning performance from Kathy Bates and wonderful moments of humour from Frances Sternhagen, make this film a stylish, enjoyable thriller. Just watch out for that 'hobbling' scene...

Don't forget: if you like this, you'll love Dolores Claiborne.

Mark Chamber