“Why would I leave? I like it here.”

“That’s very kind of you, but I’ll bet it’s not altogether true.”

Misery is a Rob Reiner-directed horror/thriller based on a Steven King novel, and follows famous author, Paul Sheldon (James Caan), who has just completed writing the draft of his latest book. Unfortunately, he soon gets into a near-fatal car wreck during a snow blizzard, where a nurse named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) just so happens to witness this accident and takes him into her home to take care of him. The crazy coincidence, however, is that she is a huge fan of his and obsessed with his work. Things do feel a little bit off, but for the most part, everything is fine, until Paul lets Annie read his latest story, and let’s just say, she doesn’t exactly like it, and is willing to abuse him to get him to write what she wants.

I have somewhat recently started diving into the realm of Stephen King movie adaptations, or movies originally written by Stephen King, and a number of them happen to already be on my all-time favorites list (Shawshank, Green Mile, The Long Walk). I was incredibly curious to check out this film, not only because it was one of the highest-acclaimed King adaptations, but also because it was directed by Rob Reiner, a director whom I’m relatively unfamiliar with (I had only seen The Princess Bride beforehand). Before I move on to the next thing I’m about to say, I just want to make clear that I am not a recency-bias person at all. I always tend to recollect my thoughts after a movie and think about them in comparison to other movies I like or don’t like, and let’s just say that this has already joined my list of all-time favorite movies.

First off, besides the overall premise and everything else I’ve already said, the only thing that I really knew about Misery going in was how amazing of a performance Kathy Bates gives as Annie Wilkes. Just like Rob Reiner, I’m pretty unfamiliar with her; actually, I’m completely unfamiliar with her, and this was absolutely a good first impression, even though I’ve also heard that her other roles are nothing like this. Her character is so unsettling to watch, even from the beginning, because, even if you had no idea what this movie was about going in, you’d still feel that there was something really off about her. The main thing that really makes her this way all comes down to her obsession, which really makes her an unstable and unpredictable character. She is nice some of the time, but when she gets upset, mainly because of something that has to do with Paul’s writing not being what she wants, you feel all the tension and dread that Paul is feeling.

When it comes to Paul, to be honest with you, I think James Caan had the standout performance for me here. I think both are absolutely top-tier, but I also think that Caan’s character and writing demanded a lot more from him. The way he portrays anxiety and an unsettledness, but especially pain, was honestly incredible in my opinion. Every time he gets psychologically or physically abused, you absolutely feel it, and the movie goes places with that that are pretty insane and crazy, but absolutely work. Another emotion that Caan gave off remarkably well in his performance was desperation. What made his performance so spectacular to me overall was that every emotion he felt was what I felt.

This, no kidding, might just be the most intense movie, at least as a whole (almost like a batting average), that I’ve ever seen in my life. Now, like I’ve said in some other reviews, I’m still not super familiar with horror, so that could definitely change, but at least for now I think this comes in at number one for the most tense and on the edge of my seat I’ve ever been in a movie from start to finish (or at least once he arrives at the house, which is very early on). The fact that Reiner was able to make such a masterful horror/thriller film, and the fact that he’s covered so many other types of movies that are critically acclaimed, has me stoked to check out his other work.

Going a little bit deeper on the suspense and tension side of things, there are sort of two sides to the story that make it so intense. The first one is obviously Paul Sheldon’s experience with being in the house and not being able to get out. This is definitely the more intense side of the story, and obviously the bigger one, and is full of the best thrills you can possibly get in a film. I mentioned the desperation of Paul, because that definitely applies to him, as once he starts to notice what’s going wrong, he takes every chance he can to get out of this situation by doing things one would never think of doing unless they were in this situation, which honestly just comes from the genius writing of Stephen King himself. I don’t even understand how he came up with some of the ideas he did for Paul, trying to get out and escape, but they are all, like I just said, stuff you probably wouldn’t think about, but make total sense while watching the movie.

When it comes to the other, smaller, side of things, it is a subplot that has to due with the local sheriff not believing that Paul is dead, while everyone else does, and trying to track down his whereabouts. What I like so much about this side of the story is that it adds a sense of urgency that elevates the tension to an even higher level. I don’t really want to go into any further detail so as not to spoil anything, but where this side of the story goes was completely unexpected for me.

The last thing I wanted to talk about in this part of the review really comes down to how well directed this film is. I don’t even know how, but somehow Reiner was able to make a relatively normal-looking and feeling environment feel so eerie and unsettling, even aside from the story and performances. I don’t know if it’s just because it’s set in winter, almost like John Carpenter’s The Thing, but even if this were a relatively normal story, I still think that it would feel a little “off.” Maybe that’s just me, but it was definitely something that stood out.

I don’t have any negatives, but the one mixed I have is somewhat of a plot hole, which is really only a nitpick because it kind of had to be this way for the story to work, but how did Annie expect to get away with this? I mean, she’s obsessed with the guy’s work and where his stories will go, so much so that she was willing to abuse him to get him to do what she wanted, but did she really think that Paul wouldn’t get her arrested afterwards? To be honest, the more I think about it, the less I care about this little nitpick, because at the end of the day, maybe she was just so obsessed that she didn’t even care if she got arrested or not. Also, the more the story goes on, the more this “plot hole” kind of starts to make sense.

Besides that one little nitpick that I probably didn’t even need to put in my review, this was honestly one of the best horror movie experiences I’ve ever had. It’s such an intense ride and brilliantly written in every single way with some fantastic performances.