Misery

"Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now, he’s writing to stay alive."

1990 1h 47m EN

🙌

7.8

BANGER

🍅

86%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.8

IMDB

★7.8TMDB · 5,446🍅86%Rotten Tomatoes●75Metacritic★7.8IMDB · 260,167

DramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.

“Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now, he’s writing to stay alive.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Kathy Bates
Annie Wilkes
James Caan
Paul Sheldon
Richard Farnsworth
Buster
Lauren Bacall
Marcia Sindell
Frances Sternhagen
Virginia
Graham Jarvis
Libby
Jerry Potter
Pete
Thomas Brunelle
Anchorman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Rob Reiner
Writers: William Goldman
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.1× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Rob Reiner, shot by Barry Sonnenfeld. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Marc Shaiman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert Leighton shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kathy Bates and James Caan and Richard Farnsworth carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now, he’s writing to stay alive.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0100157 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rob Reiner directs. Barry Sonnenfeld behind the camera. Marc Shaiman scores. Robert Leighton cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.1× over at the box office.
236 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Rob Reiner, shot by Barry Sonnenfeld. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Marc Shaiman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Robert Leighton shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Kathy Bates and James Caan and Richard Farnsworth carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now, he’s writing to stay alive.".
8IMDB entry: tt0100157 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 31 themes, including "based on novel or book", "nurse", "psychopath", "colorado".

The technical file

Cinematography: Barry Sonnenfeld
Original score: Marc Shaiman
Editing: Robert Leighton
Production design: Norman Garwood
Costume design: Gloria Gresham
Makeup / hair: Howard Berger
Sound: Rick Kline
Stunt coordinator: David R. Ellis
Runtime: 107 min · 1h 47m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $20,000,000
Box office: $61,300,000
Return: 307% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Misery (1990)
Rotten Tomatoes: 86% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 75/100
IMDB rating: 7.8/10 · 260,167 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 7 wins & 10 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Actress

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Rob Reiner

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-03-04
★ 7/10
In a wintery Colorado, acclaimed author “Sheldon” (James Caan) comes off the road only to be luckily (we think!) saved by the timely intervention of “Annie” (Kathy Bates) who just happens to be a nurse. More than that, she’s a superfan of his work and so makes it clear that his care is a labour of love she is well prepared to carry out. Gradually, though, he begins to realise that she isn’t quite the woman she’s claiming to be. He is locked in and isolated, and when she begins to suggest that he reactivate one of the lapsed characters from his novels - well let’s just say she has some fairly unique methods of persuasion at her disposal. With him her “guest”, his publisher “Marcia” (Lauren Bacall) is starting to worry and so a quick call to the local sheriff sees “Buster” (Richard Farnsworth) become the bear in the air as he tries to track him down. With “Sheldon” trapped and fed a diet of sedatives and torment, it’s becoming quite a race to see if anyone can ever find him, let alone rescue him from his increasingly obsessive host. Some of Caan’s facial expressions are super here, especially towards the end - but it’s the menacingly angelic effort from Bates that steals the show here and makes this quite possibly my favourite adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Those, I usually found, were rarely the most substantial of stories, but here he has provided some personas for both to sink their teeth into, and it also delivers one of those scenes that will live in cinema history for ever. The bleakness of their surroundings adds an extra degree of chill and Rob Reiner manages to build then sustain quite a degree of peril from pretty early on in the proceedings. It’s really not for the squeamish, nor probably for anyone who has ever written-out a popular literal character, either!

Production companies