10 Most Disturbing Psychological Film Thrillers
6. Misery
One of the finest Stephen King adaptations takes on a particularly juicy non-supernatural concept and assembles great talent on both sides of the camera to create a classic. James Caan and Kathy Bates excel in what is essentially a two-hander as novelist Paul Sheldon and nurse (and superfan) Annie Wilkes.
Sheldon is found at the scene of a car crash by Wilkes, who brings him to her remote home to heal up. It transpires she’s a huge fan of his Misery Chastain romance novels, but when she finds out Sheldon is ending the series, the nurse-patient relationship deteriorates somewhat.
Bates won an Oscar for her performance as Annie in a rare nod for a horror character, and it’s safe to assume the Academy was too frightened not to give it to her. Few movie characters are so singularly terrifying: Annie is a chipper, puritanical chatterbox capable of eye watering brutality without ever dropping her mask of civility.
Misery is most famous for one particularly wince-inducing scene, but the whole film is a masterclass in sustained tension, so brilliantly using claustrophobia to tighten its terrifying grip on the audience.