"I am your number one fan. There is nothing to worry about. You are going to be just fine. I am your number one fan."
Misery is a 1990 Psychological Horror film directed by Rob Reiner, written by William Goldman, and starring James Caan, Kathy Bates, and Richard Farnsworth. Frances Sternhagen, Lauren Bacall, and J. T. Walsh appear in minor roles. It was adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name.
Novelist Paul Sheldon (Caan) has grown famous and wealthy off of his long-running Victorian romance series Misery. Tired of the character, Paul has killed her off in his latest book and intends to begin writing more serious literary fiction. Unfortunately, Paul is caught in a snowstorm and crashes his car. He is rescued by retired nurse Annie Wilkes (Bates), his self-proclaimed biggest fan. Annie takes him back to her isolated cabin to take care of him until the phone lines are re-connected and the roads are cleared. That is, until she finds out her favorite character is dead. An enraged Annie demands Paul write a new novel where Misery comes back to life - or he'll die too.
Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance, making this both the only Stephen King adaptation and the only Rob Reiner film to win an Oscar.
Misery contains examples of:
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Kathy Bates is a Big Beautiful Woman and her Annie was clean and well-groomed, a far cry from how Annie was in the novel: a huge blob of a woman who dressed dumpily and stank of dirt, half-spoiled food, and cheap makeup. This serves to make Annie a more sinister character in the film, as she outwardly appears to be a perfectly normal person.
- Adaptation Distillation:
- The movie forgoes any of the new novel and the analogies to writing. Paul's ankles are also crushed, instead of his foot cut off; his thumb remains happily on his hand, and Paul's addiction to his pain medication is left out.
- In the novel, it's pretty clear right off the bat that Annie is certifiably insane. From the moment Paul regains consciousness he is able to assess that Annie is clearly mentally unstable and possibly even dangerous if provoked. However, in the film, Annie is originally played off as a kind and hospitable person, albeit a bit eccentric. The audience and Paul don't realize just how deeply disturbed she is until later in the movie.
- In the novel, Annie makes no attempt to hide why she hasn't brought him to a hospital given the nigh immediate reveal of her insanity. In the movie, she claims to be keeping him in her home temporarily due to the roads being shut off from the storm.
- The addition of Sheriff Buster adds some much appreciated comic relief to what could be a hopelessly grim story, plus pulling a nasty Bait-and-Switch on the audience as we start to think Paul only has to hang on long enough for Buster to find him, only for Buster to be immediately killed by Annie, similar to the previous King adaptation The Shining.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Annie is more friendly and cordial to Paul than she was in the book, even after reading Misery's Child. Her more heinous acts against him, such as cutting off his thumb and forcing him to drink soapy water, are also left out.
- While Paul is nowhere close to unsympathetic in the novel, the film takes strides to show that he's a Nice Guy before being captured by Annie, making his ordeal even more horrific.
- Affably Evil: Annie is genuinely sweet and friendly, enough so that Paul is sincerely charmed by her at first. Even as she reveals how depraved she really is, she's genuinely oblivious to the idea Paul might take offense to being kidnapped and amiably chuckles when he flips her the bird.Annie: Such a kidder.
- Agony of the Feet: The infamous hobbling scene is often cited as among the most terrifying in all cinema. When Annie realizes that Paul has recovered enough to move around, she takes care of the problem by "hobbling" him by swinging a sledgehammer to bend his feet across a wooden block. It is agonizing.
- All There in the Script: The script reveals Sheriff Buster's surname is McCain. This isn't mentioned in the film itself.
- Alone with the Psycho The horror of the film is when Paul realizes Annie is dangerously, violently unstable and he is entirely at her mercy. He's trapped in a remote location with an obsessed Serial Killer who has him enslaved to her whims and it is only a matter of time before she kills him.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Buster. Without access to any forensic and just connecting dozens of unrelated clues, he tracks down Paul's whereabouts. Unfortunately, he is killed for his trouble right after showing up. And he does that mostly as a hobby, since the case is considered closed.
- Based on a True Story: In-Universe, Paul's publisher begs him to write a non-fiction book about his dealing with Annie. Paul isn't on board.
- Bathos: The idea of someone who is twisted enough to hold their favorite author hostage and put them through what is essentially torture to get the book they want yet refuses to use actual swear words nine times out of ten.
- Batman Gambit: Confined to a wheelchair, Paul is completely at Annie's mercy as long as she keeps her distance and plans her attacks carefully. Paul knew that setting the manuscript on fire would make her panic, make her desperate to save it, make her forget to be careful...and suddenly she's within reach and the advantage shifts to him.
- Battleaxe Nurse: Annie is a registered, though now retired nurse. She's genuinely very good at it - but has no hesitation about "hobbling" Paul with a sledgehammer.
- Berserk Button: Annie is very, very attached to her favorite character Misery Chastain, and when Annie finds out that Paul has killed her off, she gets very ugly very quickly.
- Annie: You dirty bird... How could you? She can't be dead! Misery Chastain cannot be dead!
Paul: Annie, in 1871 women often died in childbirth, but her spirit is the important thing, and Misery's spirit is still alive.
Annie: [violently slamming the injured Paul's bed, hurting him] I DON'T WANT HER SPIRIT!! I WANT HER!! AND YOU MURDERED HER!
- Beware the Nice Ones: Paul is a polite guy and is sympathetic toward Annie but in the end he brutally attacks her, taking enormous glee in her suffering after everything she's done to him.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Annie has a cheery facade, uses ridiculous childish expressions like "cockadoodie," and will kill you if she finds a reason.
- Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: Annie's typical brand of insults is very "chaste" language, with "Dirty Birdie" being a favorite. It's when she drops this and intentionally swears that her threat level is seriously ramped up.
- Bittersweet Ending: More heavily on the sweet side. Paul burns Misery's Return so he can trick Annie and ultimately kills her in battle. But Sheriff Buster is still dead, leaving his wife a widow. Paul recovers and writes a new book to process his trauma, but is still recovering by the end of the film and haunted by the memories of Annie.
- Body Horror: The "hobbling" scene in the film - it's a lot less destructive than what's in the book, but actually seeing a human's foot get mangled like that is horrifying.
- Bookends: In the beginning, Paul has just finished writing a book. According to his custom, he drinks a glass of champagne. In the end, Paul has just finished writing another book. Annie brings him a champagne bottle and a glass. Paul asks her to bring a second glass.
- Bottle Episode: Most of the plot is restricted to the room Paul is locked in. The film crew was even expressing delight once they finally left the bedroom set to shoot scenes in the hallway!
- The Caretaker: The whole reason for this plot is because Annie Wilkes decided to take it upon herself to be this for Paul rather than calling 911 or taking him to the hospital herself. It does not go well.
- Celebrity Paradox: In the general store, VHS tapes of Roots and When Harry Met Sally... can be seen. Richard Farnsworth (Buster) appeared in Roots while When Harry Met Sally was Rob Reiner's previous film. Interestingly, Billy Crystal's character is seen reading Misery in that film.
- Celebrity Cameo: J. T. Walsh appears as the Colorado Police Chief in the film.
- Chekhov's Gun: After Paul is declared dead when his body wasn't in the crashed Mustang, Buster reads the Misery series to see what type of author Paul is and writes down the passage "there is a judge higher than that of man, I will be judged by Him", as he thinks it's interesting. When he sees Annie screaming at a driver that she nearly crashed into, he looks for the quote he wrote down, and then goes over some old newspapers that show Annie being arrested in connection to several mysterious deaths of babies under her care, and another where she is cleared of all charges due to lack of evidence. Under her picture she's quoted as saying: "there is a judge higher than that of man, I will be judged by Him," which causes Buster to deduce that Annie had something to do with Paul's disappearance.
- Cliffhanger Copout: Annie accuses Paul of this, when he first attempts to revive Misery by simply rewriting the end of the last book so that she never died.note She brings up an example of her favorite childhood serial Rocket Man. In one episode, the Rocket Man was locked into his car, which then fell off a cliff and exploded. The next episode showed the Rocket Man jumping out of his car in the last minute, which made Annie extremely angry, because "This isn't what happened last week! Have you all got amnesia? They just cheated us! This isn't fair! He didn't get out of the cockadoodie car!"
- Cluster F-Bomb: When Paul begins typing on his new typewriter, only one word comes to mind.
- Creator Cameo: Rob Reiner appears in the film as a helicopter pilot.
- Creator's Pest: In-Universe; Paul dislikes Misery, and was thrilled to be able to kill her off.
- Cute and Psycho: Annie Wilkes is sweet, smiley, and a homebody who loves kitschy figures. She's also dangerously, violently insane.
- Cornered Rattlesnake: Paul half-way namechecks the trope he is being rescued by Wicks and McKnight. He begins rambling somewhat incoherently as he tries to warn them about Annie, noting that if she should turn out to still be alive she would extra dangerous, like a "rattlesnake".
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Paul mentions he grew up in the slums while defending his manuscript to Annie.
- While it isn't brought up in the film, Kathy Bates and Rob Reiner agreed that Annie was a victim of sexual abuse as a child. Noteworthy in light of this is that in both the book and movie, Annie's father is one of her earliest victims.
- Deadpan Snarker: Paul. After Annie puts him in the wheelchair for the first time:Annie: Now isn't this nice?!
Paul: Yeah. I always wanted to visit the other side of the room.- Also, after Annie gives him an electric razor so he can shave himself Paul comments " If I knew this was the surprise I'd have burned all my books."
- Death by Childbirth: Paul plans to have the Misery novels end via Misery's death in childbirth. Annie is furious and forces him to undo it with Misery's Return.
- Despair Speech: After a period of relative stability, Annie enters Paul's room during a rainy evening, visibly depressed. She tells him that she knows he doesn't and will never love her, and that she's afraid that he will eventually leave her.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the novel, the sheriff who recognizes Paul get brutally taken down by Annie's lawnmower and a wooden stake. In the movie, he gets a shotgun to the chest.
- Dies Wide Open: Annie's eyes are wide open after Paul fatally bludgeons her.
- Disproportionate Retribution: This is Annie's M.O., and it's Played for Drama. Any little thing can set her off, as Paul finds out the hard way. She finds out he wrote a breather manuscript and killed Misery; her response is to make him burn Fast Cars, the only copy, and write a Retcon where Misery is brought back, fairly. When he brings up that she got him an unsuitable form of paper (also to get her out of the house for a while so he might explore escape options), she snaps at his "ingratitude" and flings a heavy manuscript down on his leg.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After being kidnapped, tortured and maimed, Paul eventually fights his way to freedom and the new Misery book he wrote during his ordeal is a smashing hit.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Once Paul is declared missing-presumed dead and a search for his body in the nearby forest concludes, Buster starts reading the Misery books to see what they're about, and he writes down the quote "there is a judge higher than that of man, I will be judged by Him," because he thinks it's interesting. When he sees Annie arguing with another driver when she goes into town to shop for supplies, he takes the quote and goes to the local library and reads and article about Annie being arrested for her connection to numerous mysterious deaths in her natal unit. When Buster reads another article where Annie is cleared of all charges due to lack of evidence, the quote underneath the picture reads: "There is a judge higher than that of man, I will be judged by Him." leading Buster to conclude Annie is connected to Paul's disappearance in some way.
- The End... Or Is It?: Paul is speaking to his agent about his confinement and, as with the book, ends up hallucinating Annie coldly walking towards him, brandishing a butcher's knife. It's just a waitress bringing his dinner, who cheerfully tells him that she's his biggest fan. Not surprisingly, Paul comes across as a bit nervous about this.
- Facial Dialogue: One of the reasons why Kathy Bates's Annie garnered such wide critical praise. Even with the movie muted, just her expressions capture the essence of Annie's bipolar nature with frightening accuracy, swinging from a flattened affect during her depressive episodes to crazed levels of animated when she's manic.
- The Film of the Book
- Flipping the Bird: Paul does this to Annie through a window after assorted traumas. She thinks he's joking around with her.
- Forced Creativity: Paul Sheldon is held captive by his "number one fan," Annie Wilkes. When Annie discovers that Paul's latest book kills her favorite character, she forces Paul to write an all new book just for her.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- In the movie, during the scrapbook scene, pause whenever any of the news articles are visible. Most consist of only one or two paragraphs that are continuously repeated.
- Recognize that guy on the cover of ''Misery's Return''?
- The Ghost:
- Paul's daughter is frequently mentioned but never appears onscreen.
- Annie's mom, a great influence in the story despite being dead for who knows how long before it.
- The Roydmans, Annie's oft-mentioned but never seen neighbors, whom she detests (and vice-versa, apparently).note
- Good Is Not Dumb: Buster, the amiable local sheriff who figures the puzzle out.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Annie really doesn't like it when your characters are dirty birds who use cockadoodie foul language... Paul also comes to realize that on the few occasions she actually uses outright swearwords he should be even more afraid of her than usual.
- Hallucinations: While dining with his agent in the final scene, Paul briefly visualizes a waitress as Annie. It doesn't help his comfort level at all when the waitress then cheerfully introduces herself as his "number one fan".
- Handicapped Badass: In the climax, Paul fights and knocks out Annie, a psychopathic murderer (not to mention in the midst of a Villainous Breakdown) and chokes her with the remains of her own book, after already having his legs shattered and arm shot. It helps that he's been using the typewriter as a makeshift free weight to build up his arm strength.
- Hollywood Psych: While in the book Paul speculates that Annie has bipolar disorder (using the older term manic-depressive), mental-health professionals have said that Annie exhibits symptoms of a wide range of disorders that seldom occur together, all in the same person: in addition to bipolar disorder, her behavior also suggests borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and schizophrenia.
- Hope Spot: A gut-busting one when Sheriff Buster (Richard Farnsworth) discovers Paul in Annie's basement...only to take a shotgun blast in the back by Annie not even a second later.
- Housepet Pig: Annie Wilkes has a pet pig. Being that she is such a huge fan of Paul Sheldon's In-Universe Misery novels, it comes as no surprise that she named the pig "Misery."Annie: I wasn't trying to be funny in a mean way when I named my pig Misery, no sir. Please don't think that. No, I named her in the spirit of fan love, which is the purest love there is. You should be flattered.
- How They Treat the Help: Paul is mentioned as being always friendly to the staff at the hotel and never bothering anyone.
- I Made Copies: Averted. Paul was staying in an isolated cabin on the Colorado Rockies, and when he finished his new book, he drank some champagne as was his custom whenever he finished a book. Unfortunately he also made the decision to drive to Denver to board a plane and driving drunk in the middle of a blizzard, which caused him to crash and be found by Annie. After reading "Misery's Child" Annie tells Paul that Misery can't be dead and must write a new book where Misery is alive and well. However, to do so, Paul must burn his new manuscript because it contains too many swears, and to ensure he stays focused on his new "Misery" book. Near the end of the movie, Paul has finished "Misery's Return" and tells Annie he can join his celebration, which serves as a brief distraction while he gets ready to burn the manuscript. When Annie returns with the champagne, he tells her that everything she wanted to know, who Misery's father is, and who she ends up is in the manuscript and burns it, and while she tries to save it, Paul smashes her head with the typewriter she gave him, setting off the the battle to the death that ends with Annie's demise. 18 months later, he meets with his publisher over the success of his new book.
- I Should Write a Book About This: Paul's agent pitches him the idea of writing a non-fiction book regarding his experience; Paul elegantly disregards it as a cheap shenanigan.
- Improvised Weapon: Paul ultimately kills Annie by bludgeoning her head with a pig doorstop.
- Innocently Insensitive: At the film's end, a waitress cheerfully tells Paul she's his biggest fan. Naturally, this brings up memories of Annie and Paul does his very best to say how "sweet" it is with a very forced smile.
- The Kindnapper: Annie Wilkes, who, upon finding Paul Sheldon, the protagonist and her favorite author, at the scene of a car accident, decides to take him home with her rather than at least attempt to call the hospital or for other emergency help. She's figured that since she's a trained nurse, she could take care of Paul herself! And she loves him, so surely he'll love her, too, once he gets to know her...
- Kitsch Collection: Annie has an assortment of figurines and little kitschy things all about. She realizes Paul has been secretly exploring the house when he accidentally moves a porcelain penguin.
- Large Ham: There's a reason why Kathy Bates is nowadays best known as Annie Wilkes in the movie. Annie is very over the top, raving at the drop of a hat.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After being forced to burn the book he wanted to publish, Paul gets back at Annie by burning the book she forced him to write. In the ensuing fight, Paul hits her with the typewriter he was forced to write the book on, shoves the burnt pages into her mouth and trips her with one of his broken legs, causing her to trip and faceplant onto the typewriter.
- Lethal Chef: Annie. For instance, she serves Paul her homemade meatloaf:Annie: And, to give it that extra zip, I mix a little Spam in with the ground beef!
Paul: Ho, ho... You can't get that in a restaurant in New York! - Loony Fan: Annie holds her favorite author hostage and forces him to write her a brand new book.
- Love Makes You Dumb: To an extent; Annie's love of the Misery novels can cloud her judgement. Paul is able to deceive her by playing on this, making Annie drop her guard to give him a leg up on her.
- Mask of Sanity: It's a stronger mask in the film, but Annie presents as a cheerful and happy woman. Under it she is dangerously and violently insane and it takes very little to set her off into volatile, homicidal madness. The mask has some holes at the start and Paul is unnerved by how she says and acts. After she finishes the final Misery Chastain book, the mask drops utterly and Paul sees the horrific danger he's in.
- Mood-Swinger: Annie can be pleasant one minute and angry the next.
- Mood Whiplash: Annie spouting phrases like "kaka-poopie-doopie!" in the middle of her "moods" is either utterly terrifying or darkly hilarious.
- Morality Pet: Misery the pig is the only character in-story that Annie treats with consistent kindness, albeit with the idea to kill and skin her to turn her into a book cover. Fortunately, Misery the pig lives, as does Misery the character.
- Newspaper Backstory: Paul realizes just who he's dealing with when he finds a scrapbook filled with clippings showing that Annie had been charged numerous times for infanticide while she was a nurse. Many of them have normal obits which seem out of place – until Paul cottons to the fact that while everyone thought they were natural deaths, Annie knew they were people she'd murdered.
- Nice Guy: The film takes great pains to establish Paul as a good guy. He's friendly, polite, and is legitimately kind and grateful to Annie before seeing she's dangerously Ax-Crazy.
- Not the First Victim: When he manages to escape from the bedroom, Paul finds a scrapbook kept by Annie where she reveals that she murdered her father, her college roommate, and multiple babies at the hospital where she worked prior to holding Paul captive.
- Oh, Crap!: Paul gets a massive one when Annie nearly bashes his skull in with a small table, and reveals that she never called his daughter, agent, or the hospital. No one knows where he is, and now he is at the mercy of a clearly insane woman.
- Police Are Useless: Subverted and zigzagged: at first the sheriff, Buster, seems to be just a rustic old man warming a chair, but he turns out to be quite competent and thorough despite a bickering deputy who doubles as his wife. In the end he is nonetheless taken by surprise and murdered by Annie, though not in vain.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Annie refers to "that Dago" who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
- Precision F-Strike:
- Annie only swears once in the film, during the Villainous Breakdown: "I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU LYING COCKSUCKER!!!"
- During the climax, Paul jams his burning manuscript down Annie's throat:
Paul: EAT IT, YOU SICK TWISTED FUCK! - Pun-Based Title: In a way. The film's tagline was even "This Christmas there will be Misery".
- Rasputinian Death: Annie takes like three hits to the skull with a typewriter, being choked and ultimately gets smashed in the head with the pig statute before she succumbs to her wounds.
- Retcon: In-Universe. Annie isn't happy that Paul killed off Misery and forces him to write a book that brings her back to life. Paul's first try at this is just to make a completely straight-up retcon of the ending of the previous book, but Annie angrily calls him out on this, considering it "cheating".
- Sacrificial Lion: Sheriff Buster. He spends most of the movie investigating Paul's disappearance and eventually arrives at Annie's house to question her, only to get shot to death by Annie when Paul manages to get his attention.
- Sentimental Sacrifice:
- Annie forces Paul to destroy his beloved manuscript of Fast Cars because she hates the swearing. It's either that or she kills him.
- Paul pays her back by burning the book he was writing for her, Misery's Return.
- Shout-Out: Annie mentions watching the Rocketman film serials as a child.
- Slipping a Mickey: Paul puts a drug in annie's drink, but Annie accidentally knocks the glass over.
- Snowed-In: Annie insists they can't leave her cabin due to the terrible weather inside and all the roads being covered in deep snow. This works initially, since Paul crashed during a snowstorm and the weather really is awful, but eventually the claim becomes a blatant lie as he figures he's been kidnapped.
- Spotting the Thread:
- Paul tries to bluff Annie to avoid burning his manuscript for Fast Cars, saying his agent has a copy and it's with the publishers in New York. Naturally, this would be pretty par for the course for most writers. Because of her obsession with Paul, Annie knows from a single interview long ago that Paul only ever prints and keeps a single manuscript because he's superstitious about how it happened from his first success. Ergo, Annie knows this is the only manuscript that exists and forces Paul to burn it.
- The direction her ceramic penguin is facing tips Annie off that Paul has left his room.
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" (performed by Liberace, Annie's favorite musician) plays while she breaks Paul's feet.
- Tap on the Head: Paul bashes Annie on the head with the typewriter. Unlike in the book, this doesn't kill her. In a Jump Scare, she gets right back up to continue fighting with Paul. During the brawl, Paul reaches for the doorstop of Misery (the pig statue) and bashes Annie's face in with it, which finally kills her.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Annie has a much less threatening appearance than in the book, and is portrayed by the relatively unknown (at the time) Kathy Bates, thus giving the impression of being a common woman in her forties. The effect is unsettling.
- Time-Passes Montage: In one montage, Paul is seen typewriting by the window with different clothes. His injuries are getting better too.
- Torch the Franchise and Run: In-universe. Paul has grown to hate writing the Misery Chastain novels and kills her off so he can write a gritty crime novel. In both versions, Annie is enraged when she reads the last Misery book, forces Paul to burn his other manuscript, and makes him write a new novel to retcon Misery's demise.
- Viewers in Mourning: An In-Universe example. Annie is devastated by the death of Misery, and handles it very poorly.
- Villainous Breakdown: Annie, though pretty unhinged by this point anyway, completely goes off the deep end when Paul burns the novel in revenge. She finally blasts out an undiluted swear in a screaming rage and attacks him. After Paul actually dishes it back hard and good, she's left more or less just screaming and roaring at him like a frustrated animal.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?:
- Paul's daughter never appears. He mentions he kept writing the Misery books to pay for her schooling. Goodness knows how she felt when her dad went missing for several months.
- Misery the Pig is dropped from the story and her fate is never revealed after Annie's death. The most likely idea is that Misery was passed on to Annie's next-of-kin or sent to live at a farm for the remainder of her days.
- Who's Laughing Now?: After realizing escape is impossible, Paul finally snaps and delivers a rather brutal last laugh to Annie, by burning the only existing manuscript to Misery's Return that Annie had forced him to write under her captivity. Except, it turns out that he faked it by burning a pile of blank pages instead, hoping that, if nothing else, he could at least save his last work.Annie: Paul, you can't!
Paul: Why not? I learned it from you.