Misery [Collector's Edition] [Blu-ray]

Director: Rob Reiner Rob Reiner

Overview

Adapted from a Stephen King novel, Rob Reiner's Misery cast James Caan as a writer at a career crossroads. The film opens with Paul Sheldon (Caan) completing work on his latest novel, a break from his popular series of novels featuring the character Misery Chastain. He gets into a severe car accident and is saved by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), a reclusive woman who nurses him back to health. Annie is a huge fan of the Misery novels, and she finishes reading the new one while Paul is convalescing. She becomes enraged when she discovers that Paul has killed off Misery. Annie injures Paul's foot severely so that he is unable to leave her house, and forces him to write a new Misery novel. A local sheriff (Richard Farnsworth) and Paul's agent (Lauren Bacall) both attempt to track down what happened to the missing author. Misery shot the relatively unknown Kathy Bates to stardom, winning her one of the few Best Actress Oscars ever bestowed for portraying an evil character.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/28/2017
UPC:	0826663181104
Original Release:	1990
Rating:	R
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:48:00
Sales rank:	5,414

Special Features

NEW interview with director Rob Reiner; NEW interview with special makeup effects artist Greg Nicotero; Audio commentary with Rob Reiner; Audio commentary with screenwriter William Goldman; "Misery Loves Company" featurette; "Marc Shaiman's Musical Misery Tour" featurette; "Diagnosing Annie Wilkes" featurette; "Advice For The Stalked" featurette; "Profile Of A Stalker" featurette; "Celebrity Stalkers" featurette; "Anti-Stalking Laws" featurette; Trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kathy Bates	Annie Wilks
James Caan	Paul Sheldon
Richard Farnsworth	Sheriff Buster
Frances Sternhagen	Virginia
Lauren Bacall	Marcia Sindell
Graham Jarvis	Libby
Jerry Potter	Pete
Tom Brunelle	Anchorman,Actor
June Christopher	Anchorwoman
Wendy Bowers	Waitress
Misery the Pig	Actor
Gregory Snegoff	Actor,Reporter
Archie Hahn III	Actor
Archie Hahn	Reporter #2
John Michael Quinn	Restaurant Patron
Simon Shelton	Heath
J.T. Walsh	State Trooper Sherman Douglas
Jay Dee Witney	News Photographer
Janet Hirshenson	Actor
Jane Jenkins	Actor
Pig: Misery	Actor
Julie Payne	Reporter #1
Rob Reiner	Helicopter Pilot (uncredited)
Marc Shaiman	Composer

Technical Credits

William Goldman

Stephen King

Rob Reiner	Director,Producer
William Goldman	Screenwriter
Phil Cory	Special Effects
David Ellis	Stunts
Steve Nicolaides	Producer
Andrew Scheinman	Producer
Jeffrey Stott	Producer
Stephen King	Screenwriter
George Baetz	Sound Effects
James Ashwill	Sound Effects
Kevin Bartnof	Sound Effects
Peter Barbour	Sound Effects
Charles L. Campbell	Sound Effects
Richard L. Hill	Special Effects
Sandy Berumen	Stunts
Jane Jenkins	Casting
Janet Hirshenson	Casting

Editorial Reviews

Horror novelist Stephen King often tells the story of how he once took a picture with a fan whom he learned was Mark David Chapman, after Chapman had murdered John Lennon. It is that very kind of celebrity anxiety that fuels the film Misery, based on King's novel. James Caan plays Paul Sheldon, a romance novelist injured in a bone-breaking car wreck in the middle of nowhere and rescued by nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates, in her Oscar-winning breakthrough role). For better and for worse, Annie happens to be Sheldon's "number one fan," and she turns from motherly rescuer to sadistic captor after learning that Sheldon will kill off her favorite character, Misery, in his next book. Director Rob Reiner, in his second King adaptation (Stand By Me), explores both the horror and the humanity in Bates's tragically deranged nurse, who is torn between her compulsions to nurture and destroy. William Goldman's script is sublime storytelling in what is essentially a one-location, two-character tale, both of whom by the end have brutally blurred the lines between insanity and the struggle for survival. Although slightly tamer than King's novel, Misery never once fails to shock, scare, or disturb.

Barnes & Noble - Tony Nigro

A stark departure from director Rob Reiner's nostalgic coming-of-age tales Stand By Me (1986) and When Harry Met Sally (1989), Misery (1990) adeptly juggled agonizing suspense with cartoonish freakishness. Based on a Stephen King story, the film was generally well-liked by both audiences and critics, though it doesn't strive for the depth of Martin Scorsese's similar The King of Comedy. It does, however, allow for a restrained but offbeat performance from the previously little-known character actress Kathy Bates. Her compellingly deranged Annie is the film's centerpiece, and she won an Academy Award for her work.

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