10 Horror Films That Actually Won Oscars

Won: Best Actress

Scripted by William Goldman, Misery is in the first rank of Stephen King adaptations, fully realized on the screen by Rob Reiner, whose previous films included When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride and This Is Spinal Tap.

Reiner might seem an odd choice for a claustrophobic movie about a writer held captive by his “number one fan” but he’d also made Stand By Me, another good King adaptation, and his production company is named after King’s fictional town of Castle Rock.

Reiner’s not the movie’s beating heart, though – the honor falls to Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes, who’s so much more than a standard-issue movie villain. Likely to swing from one extreme to the other in a microsecond, Annie presents any actress with the opportunity to overact in true Joan Crawford fashion, but Bates delivers a minimalist performance that’s much more powerful and unpredictable.