A Filmmaker's Guide to: "Misery" (1991)

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we are going to explore some of the films that have changed our outlook of the possibilities in cinema in some way, shape or form. These can include, but are not limited to: revolutionary cinematography, narratives that challenge the social structure and the common view, trademark styles of auter cinema, brilliant adaptations of novels and other works, films of philosophical value and films that touch our hearts and souls with their incredible underlying messages and morals. Within each of the films in this chapter there is a certain something that makes them special and a certain something that makes them linger long after we have watched them for the first time. Lasting impressions are difficult to create, but I think that the films we will briefly touch on in this chapter are some of the films we will never ever forget.

Misery (1991) dir. by Rob Reiner

Based on the chilling novel by Stephen King, it is only apt that I have to share a first name with this sociopath. Needless to say, I would never do something like this to Philippa Gregory, Anne Rice or Bob Dylan. However, I think that there was no better person to portray the main character than the legendary Kathy Bates. The film has always fascinated me as a horror film because of its lack of jump scares, ghosts and the supernatural or anything else that we associate with common tropes of horror. That is basically what makes this film so incredible as well - that it uses purely the characterisation and story to scare the living daylights out of the viewer. Between that and the cinematography, those are the scariest and most tense things about the viewing experience of this film.

Sometimes referred to as a ‘study in psychosis’ I actually think that the film is a study in what happens when the term ‘fandom’ becomes synonymous with ‘stalker’ which, in someone who is a danger to others because of an obsessive condition, becomes ‘a study in psychosis’. I think simply referring to it as a ‘study in psychosis’ is an over-simplification. One thing I found very apt about this is the way in which people have, for some reason, always worshipped ‘celebrities’ of some kind: whether it be actors or musicians, socialites or famed folk on other platforms and mediums - there has always been a small set of people who take the term ‘fan’ out of hand. This film deals with what happens when someone, who has taken that out of hand to the extreme, gains access to the individual and possibly, like John Lennon and others, put the famed folk’s life in extreme danger.

One of the great things about this film is the way its filmed. We get these incredible close ups of Kathy Bates, who has the most amazing facial expressions that remain so static but at the same time represent so many tense and frightening emotions at once. It is a special skill to get that good at facial expression and body language that it looks completely natural. The cinematography works with this and whilst we get full body shots more than most when it comes to the increasingly strenuous and working body language of James Caan, we get the brilliance of the facial expression of Kathy Bates as a juxtaposition to the first. They both work so well together on screen because they both bring different things to the experience of the film. We get both tension and empathy from each and as the film goes on, the equilibrium shifts more and more towards the fact that Kathy Bates’ character has something incredibly wrong about her. The experience is absolutely chilling in every sense of the word.

I know that, Mr. Man! They also called them serials. I'm not stupid ya know... Anyway, my favourite was Rocketman, and once it was a no breaks chapter. The bad guy stuck him in a car on a mountain road and knocked him out and welded the door shut and tore out the brakes and started him to his death, and he woke up and tried to steer and tried to get out but the car went off a cliff before he could escape! And it crashed and burned and I was so upset and excited, and the next week, you better believe I was first in line. And they always start with the end of the last week. And there was Rocketman, trying to get out, and here comes the cliff, and just before the car went off the cliff, he jumped free! And all the kids cheered! But I didn't cheer. I stood right up and started shouting. 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 COCK-A-DOODIE CAR!

- Annie, "Misery" (1991)