Annie Wilkes says Misery loves company

June 25, 10:04 AMSan Jose Movie ExaminerDanny Derakhshan

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Photo still from the movie Misery.

Annie Wilkes rescues her idol, hunky romance novelist Paul Sheldon, after he crashes his car during a fierce blizzard. But when she finds out he plans to kill off the heroine in his next volume, Annie morphs from nurturing caregiver to sadistic jailer. In a suspenseful adaptation of Stephen King's novel, Kathy Bates earned a Best Actress Oscar as the woman come undone in a claustrophobia inducing house of horrors.

This was a movie that the legendary William Goldman wrote the screenplay. In his book "Adventures in the Screen Trade", Goldman writes about how he had to make the novelist more of a jock than a wimpy writer type.

 Do not watch this movie before going to bed as it will freak you the hell out. The ankle scene is so awful, it will not be easy to go to bed. For those that have not seen Misery yet, there are many ankle scene reproductions and parodies out there that will make you think that you have seen the movie before. Seeing is believing though. 99% of scary movies are not scary, but this is going down as one of the greats of the genre. There are great performances throughout by the character actors, but really, the story did does the work of heart pumping before any tragedy even begins.

For a fun spoof watch this video: