Place 5: Misery
- Released: 1990
- Director: Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner delivered an excellent adaptation of a Stephen King story with Stand by Me back in the 80s. However, since this does not fall into the horror genre, it sadly doesn’t qualify for this list. But with Misery, Reiner impressed King fans a second time.
The novel is titled Misery in English – likely because they hoped to entice fans of It to buy it. However, there is hardly any connection in terms of content. In the story, King processes his own existence as a popular writer. The author Paul Sheldon is taken in by nurse Annie Wilkes after an accident.
It turns out she is a great “fan” and wants to force him to bring back her favorite character Misery in a new book – by any means necessary. The adaptation, while not very imaginative in terms of direction, is particularly noteworthy for one aspect: Kathy Bates, who plays Annie and rightfully received her Oscar for this role.
