Misery

Directed by Rob Reiner and written for screen by William Goldman; this movie adaptation of the fantastic Stephen King book, is also one of the best.
Novelist Paul Sheldon crashes his car on a snowy Colorado road. He is found by Annie Wilkes, the "number one fan" of Paul's heroine Misery Chastaine. Annie is also somewhat unstable, and Paul finds himself crippled, drugged and at her mercy.

James Caan plays Paul Sheldon brilliantly, because the actor is so well known for being very active, the viewer can literally see the frustration in his eyes as he is forced to stay bed ridden and then house bound by the superb Kathy Bates in one of her best roles ever (if not her best) as Annie Wilkes. This darkly humorous thriller is amazing to watch, keeping you tense, and on the edge of your seat throughout. Kathy Bates is stunning in her portrayal of the nutty, but misunderstood psycho nurse, Wilkes, with her funny little sayings and expressions turning to crazed lunatic in a flash; and the chemistry between both leads is intoxicating.

There are slight differences to the novel, which is superb, but this as good a representation of the novel you’re going to get.

Kathy Bates won the award for ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ at the 1991 Academy Awards, and completely deserved the accolade.

At the 1992 Saturn awards, James Caan and Kathy Bates were both nominated for best actor and actress in a leading role. Misery was up for Best Horror Film, Frances Sternhagen was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and William Goldman was nominated for Best Writing.


The Shining

Directed, and written for screen by Stanley Kubrick, this is most Stephen King fan’s favourite movie, even though, it is very different to the novel. Stephen King went as far as to re-make the movie himself, because he didn’t like Kubrick’s take on his novel. Although the novel is different to the movie adaptation, there is no getting away from the fact, that the film is hugely popular and really rather brilliant.

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.
Jack Nicholson is fantastic as ever playing insane. The trouble is he gets there two quickly, he seems to start the movie insane rather than deteriorate into it as the character of Jack should. He is however brilliant when the madness starts.

Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance is superb, and keeps her acting on key and perfect throughout. Not overacting, but keeping the tension just right until she erupts with fear, for herself and her son, Danny. Although in the book; Wendy is described as beautiful, sexy and sophisticated; attributes you wouldn’t place with Duvall straight away, she more than makes up for it with her acting talent. Danny Lloyd is brilliant as ‘Dock’ or Danny, despite his young age and his facial expressions speak a thousand words when he is acting terrified by the very spooky looking ‘Overlook Hotel.’

Although not a perfect adaptation of King’s novel, this is a brilliant, dark and tense horror in its own right. Although, I did used to despise it.

In 1981 Scatman Crothers won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film was also nominated as Best Horror, Kubrick as Best Director and Béla Bartók as Best Music Composer.

The same year at the Razzie Awards, Shelley Duvall was nominated for Worst Actress and Stanley Kubrick was nominated for Worst Director. It seems the film wasn’t always thought as a classic horror…