10 Horror Movie Characters Who Were SECONDS Away From Dying

10. Paul - Misery (1990)

A sucker for punishment, successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) has a rough ride in the Stephen King adaptation Misery; it's kind of in the name.

Paul crashes his car during a blizzard, before being rescued from the wreckage by the solitary local nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). A big fan of Paul's novels, Annie nurses him, feeds him and forces him, under pain of torture, to write a new novel for her.

Things progressively go from bad to worse as Annie becomes more neurotic, controlling and cruel. And, while the unlucky author has a number of close shaves with death throughout the film, from the initial car crash through to the final fight with his captor, there is one moment in particular that is a cut above the rest.

In a particularly melancholic moment, following her slaying of the local sheriff, Annie decides it is time for her and Paul to check out, advancing on him with a syringe and a gun. But Paul stops her in her tracks with a well-timed 'I love you, too'. Bluffing his way out of imminent doom, Paul convinces Annie that, if she lets him live a little longer, he can complete the new novel and 'give it back to the world' before they leave it together – buying him time to plot his escape and her demise.

Ahh, romance.