Misery

Release date: November 30, 1990

The Pitch:

Romance novelist is rescued by his number-one fan, a psycho nurse who swings a mean sledgehammer.

Why You Need It:

Director Rob Reiner's adaptation of one of Stephen King's best novels is a classic of "confined cinema." Misery is basically a two-character chamber piece depicting the epic physical and psychological battle between a wounded romance novelist and his seriously disturbed caretaker in the latter's remote cabin in the Colorado mountains. Both James Caan and Kathy Bates are excellent, though it was Bates who won an Oscar for her truly terrifying - and endlessly quotable - performance. Changing the weapon of choice in crippling Caan's character from the novel's chainsaw to a sledgehammer is actually even more cruel and disturbing.

Talent:

Rob Reiner (director), Kathy Bates, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen, Lauren Bacall, Graham Jarvis, Jerry Potter.