Misery, in my opinion, is the greatest film adaptation to come out of Stephen King's horror oeuvre. It may not be as indelible as Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, but it is more loyal to the source material/author's vision, and that, for me, affords it an extra bit of prestige. As for the film itself? It's exceptional from every angle -- the acting, writing, cinematography, settings, set dressing, tone, soundtrack. Rob Reiner and his cast and crew outdid themselves. Kathy Bates is remarkable -- both scary and somewhat sympathetic as the unhinged Annie; James Caan rises to the challenge of playing a physically and emotionally vulnerable everyman; and Richard Farnsworth and Frances Sternhagen make for the oldest, cutest, astutest police couple in film history. The suspense is palpable, the humor nice and grim. Every shot is important -- every scene, damn near every line -- and it's a harrowing viewing experience every single time. I can only think of two minor criticisms, which have to do with Buster's lack of backup and the slightly rushed ending, but that's about it. Like the book on which it's based, Misery is masterful, and I recommend it to all mature audiences, particularly thriller and psychological horror fans and writers who enjoy movies about writers.

Maybe the greatest adaptation of a Stephen King story. Excellent acting, tense psychological thrills, and a tight script.

It doesn’t get better than this. Wonderfully shot and expertly acted

THE best psychological thriller out there IMO

I can rewatch this a million times and still get terrified

They don't make them like this anymore

A masterclass in a psychological thrillers

Geniuses at work with this movie

One of my FAVORITE scary/horror films from Stephen King. I couldn't finish the book, but I just LOVED this movie.

One of those rare instances where the movie is as good as the book

The best of the best for psychological thrillers. Kathy Bated at her best

I remember the hype when this came out. I totally get the hype. Brilliant film. Get the writing slippers.

One of the best of all time

Perfect film with performances of a lifetime

It was a great movie it kinda gave me shinning vibes I can watch it again if I want it’s not that bad but not like omg!

A wonderfully miserable thriller that’s every writer and celebrity’s worst nightmare: being trapped with your most obsessive and possessive fan. It’s a great satire on toxic entitled fandoms with their unhealthy parasocial obsessions and constant duality of praise and skewering of their beloved authors on top of the delicate pedestal they placed them on. Kathy Bates is unnerving as Anne Wilkes, jumping between childishly bubbly and psychotically angry in seconds. She’s like a ticking land mine and there’s always so much tension with what’s going to set her off. James Caan is great with his subtle cleverness in this nightmare situation and has a lot of vulnerability, more than what we usually get for a male protagonist in most thriller/horror movies. I was pleasantly surprised by the kindly elderly couple and was genuinely bummed out by the sweet old sheriff’s fate. The film has great pacing and expertly built-up of tension. Great direction with plenty of subtle visual cues to inform the viewers of the situation without them even realizing it. The film is cleverly solved and ends on a nice note about writing for yourself instead of just pandering to fans. A clearly very personal story from Stephen King, and one that has aged VERY well in the era of online obsessive toxic fans disrupting the peace.

Misery - 10/10. Ironically, I saw the tamil remake of this first (Julie Ganapathy, which is actually a decent remake), before watching this. Some films and stories almost feel clairvoyant in nature. Misery happens to be one of them. What an excellent film, and one that is super ahead of its time. Based on the Stephen King story, Misery is a story about unhealthy obsession, and the dangers of falling in too deep with fandom. Make this story today, and I think it would be even more relevant now than it was during that time. We live in a society now where fandoms of stars, films, and franchises are more prominent than they were back in the day. Of course, we got people that love these things to the extent of maybe owning copies of the movies, or having tattoos of characters or lines, or even naming their children after a movie character. But, in the rare instance, there has been horrible situations and occurrences where an Annie like fan has appeared. First and foremost, what a performer Kathy Bates is. Its easy to pigeonhole a character like this as just crazy from start to finish, but Bates has this enigmatic ability to make you feel some ounce of sympathy for a diabolical individual like Annie (it happens for an instance, but still). She yells and goes berserk for flashes, but for the most part, she plays up the crazed fan who just unhealthily loves her author to a tee. And kudos to James Caan too. This is a showcase for Bates, and its her character that drives the story and movie forward, and her character is the one that provides ample amounts of material. But Caan does an amazing job being a reactionary performer here. Its his darkishly funny reactions to Annie’s ramblings and behaviour that make the scenes a whole. This is honestly a movie that works like a stage play, and though the majority of this movie happens with just the two of the characters and the cabin, you can’t help but be glued to the screen. I also loved the veteran cop couple, with their scenes being hilariously romcom like and making it feel like an entirely different movie altogether. But I think this movie does an incredible job of showing the dangers of taking fandom to another level. There’s nothing wrong with loving something, but if you’re actually gonna incite violence or harm towards the creator(s) because you don’t agree with what their doing, then I have nothing to say but say that I’m fearful of that mentality. This is as close to grounded horror as possible, and though some might say this is more of a dramatic thriller, I would say its a horror drama that is underlined by a psychological tone. Excellent film, and it celebrates its 35th anniverasy!

Misery is very hard to watch, but Bates’ and Cann’s performance, suspense, and well-written premise make this a haunting yet thrilling experience.

I am still scared and I watched the movie a year ago. Trigger warnings: - intense mood swings - cruel caring - complete insanity Do not watch with patients!

This movie is so intense despite mostly taking place in one room. I loved it. Kathy Bates was phenomenal in this role and no one else could of played the role like she did, The Oscar she won for this movie 100% deserved. James Caan was also phenomenal in his role, it's easy to feel sorry and anxious for him as you pray he makes it out alive. This movie was insane and I love it. Watching Annie go from sweet and friendly to deranged and psychotic in an instant will never not be creepy. I would 100% recommend this movie you are a fan of Stephen King.