James Caans famous romance novelist Paul Sheldon is imprisoned, hobbled and threatened by crazed fan Annie, played to perfection by Kathy Bates in this, one of the most perfect adaptations of a Stephen King novel ever made. Strictly speaking, theres not a huge amount of stalking in this novel, especially given that the victim spends the majority of the movie confined to his bed. However, Annie is a stalkers stalker, having quoted dialogue from his novels in her previous murder trials, and being so fixated on both him and the protagonist of his Misery books that shes decided that she and Paul will die together by fire just as soon as hes finished writing the new Misery novel for her. The scene everyone remembers is the one where Annie breaks Pauls ankles with a sledgehammer to punish him for leaving the room without her permission. Of course, in the original novel, King has Annie cut off one of Pauls feet for the same reason this was amended for the movie as executives felt that maiming the hero in such a final manner wouldnt go down well with audiences. Misery was a massive critical success, earning Bates an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her riveting, fearless performance as the dowdy but terrifying Annie. As stalker movies go, this is the high water mark. Its a sinister, claustrophobic portrayal of an obsessive, delusional woman which has made the phrase number one fan give celebrities the shivers for quarter of a century now. Got a favourite stalker movie? Tell us what it is and why in the comments.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
