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Misery (1990) Review | Stephen King Psychological Horror Classic | Half Hour of Horror Podcast
37 Plays6 months ago
The frights you forgot, revisited in half an hour.
In this episode of Half Hour of Horror, the horror film podcast from Love Horror, we revisit Misery (1990), the unforgettable psychological horror film adapted from Stephen King’s bestselling novel.
Directed by Rob Reiner and starring Kathy Bates in her Oscar-winning role as the terrifying Annie Wilkes, Misery tells the story of a novelist held captive by his “number one fan”. What follows is a chilling and intensely claustrophobic exploration of obsession, control and psychological terror that has become one of the most acclaimed Stephen King adaptations ever made.
More than thirty years after its release, we return to Misery to ask whether this tense psychological thriller still holds the power to shock modern horror audiences.
In this horror podcast episode you’ll get:
• A spoiler-filled synopsis of Misery (1990)
• Our honest horror movie review and discussion
• Behind-the-scenes facts about the film’s production and Stephen King’s inspiration
• Analysis of the film’s themes, tension and unforgettable performances
• Our final verdict and horror rating out of 5
If you enjoy horror podcasts, Stephen King adaptations and psychological horror movies, this episode explores why Misery remains one of the most gripping and disturbing films of the genre.
Half Hour of Horror is a horror movie podcast presented by Love Horror, the UK’s home for horror reviews, interviews and features.
Subscribe now for new horror podcast episodes revisiting classic horror films, cult favourites and forgotten genre gems.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Milestone
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello, welcome to Half Hour of Horror with Love Horror. How you doing? it's It's back, we're here again. And I'm Alex Humphrey and also I'm with Tom Atkinson. Hey Tom. Tom Atkinson, that's Atkinson, it's you. And also why I'm stumbling over my words is because I believe this is our, is it our third episode? it our think it's the third.
00:00:38
Speaker
I think this is, well, it's if you include the prologue, this is ah the fourth, but it's the third, which is officially the point at which most podcasts die.
00:00:49
Speaker
So yeah by making it to three, we've broken the seal. We're doing well. We're doing well making it to three. Look, I'm not going to give you a big spiel about what we are, what we're here to do. If you want to know that, go listen to our ah first episode. ah And whilst you're there, maybe listen to us talk about Blair Witch, maybe listen to us talk about Halloween 3, Season the Witch. But that's not why we're here today. We're here today to talk about whole different film.
00:01:15
Speaker
And I'm going to launch. I'm going launch
Stephen King's Influence on Literature
00:01:17
Speaker
into my intro. Are you ready? you ready for me to launch? Go for it. Let's go. I'm excited about this one. Here we Dubbed the King of Horror, not just because of his name, Stephen King is a prolific and immensely popular writer with over 65 novels and approximately 200 short stories to his name. Penning tales from 1967 to the present day, King has dipped into multiple genres from gothic to sci-fi to fantasy and beyond and often uses authors as his characters.
00:01:46
Speaker
Can you think of some films where use an author as a character? uh the oh wait i know the one with the window uh what's it called the one with johnny depp that they made a film out of it it's called yeah little the little the secret window secret window oh is that well um' i don't have that one what's the other one there's one with kind of vampires in it there was a tv show oh uh yeah that was salem's lot yes and the very famous one Oh, God, yeah, he's an author in that as well, isn't he? Yeah, Jack Torrance in The Shining. Yes, there you go. Good, good. Also Bag Bones. it a bit of ego trip that he likes? Oh, Bag of Bones. Writing about writers. I don't know. Is he an author in Salem's Lot? I can't actually remember. i only said that because... Ben ben Mears is the in Salem's Lot who's an author. That's the character. He is an author. Yeah. Is that a bit of a weird ego trip where you quite often have... Yeah, maybe. It's quite weird, isn't it? Yeah.
00:02:47
Speaker
But to date, they've been so as we just mentioned, there's a few of the ah the few of those famous Stephen King stories, all all of them been adapted. So but to date, there's been 36 TV adaptations and 56 movie adaptations of his work with more set to come. In fact, Running Man that just came out, didn't it?
00:03:04
Speaker
That's a Stephen King, if you didn't know. A lot of these films and shows have kind of become famous in their own right for a variety of reasons. um Kind of like the legendary look of Pennywise. I think that was, you know, how it did it, both the versions of it. That's what most people think about when they think about that.
00:03:22
Speaker
um Things like the Green Marlin Shawshank Redemption, which a lot of people don't know as Stephen King, but they're both extremely famous films, really well thought of. Amazing. Yeah, and kind of the iconic prom scene from Carrie. Again, it's kind of a you know or a lot of scenes from Carrie. or you know How they look and how people think about those films, that kind of transcended the ah the ah original novel, I would say.
The Significance of 'Misery' in Horror Cinema
00:03:48
Speaker
um these visual versions have overtaken the written source material in many people's minds, and that is most definitely the case for the movie we're discussing today, Misery, starring Kathy Bates. ah And James Kahn. Now, it's definitely overtaken. of people, obviously, lots of people know this, but another important reason this has overtaken ah the book is that Kathy Bates was the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress in in a Horror or Thriller film in 1991. Also, her character, Annie Wilkes, has ranked the 17th most iconic villain in the American Film Institute's a list of 100 heroes and villains.
00:04:28
Speaker
So, yes, here. It's quite funny, actually, because quite often people complain that ah horror films don't get enough representation at the Academy Awards. And you quite often get people say, oh no horrors have ever got like ah an Oscar or whatever. And actually, I think a lot i like you forget that she did for Misery. Yeah, no yeah so yeah people are funny about that. Yeah. No, it's true. I mean, they are they are underrepresented, I would say. They're not always thought of as worthy. um But yeah, yeah.
00:04:57
Speaker
Yes, so we're here. We're talking about misery. ah when we've been Before we jump in, can i ask well can I ask you, have you read the book first? That's the important question. I haven't i haven't read the book.
00:05:10
Speaker
have' ah if I haven't. now If I'm honest, if I'm very honest, I haven't read that many Stephen King books. I've read, I weirdly think I had the book because I think I liked the film and then I got the book and then I never read the book, but I have read some Stephen King books, but for that one, I just didn't.
00:05:30
Speaker
And you didn't read that. No. and so and it's And it's a tricky one because you will usually get people when they go into analysis of Stephen King films, yeah breaking down, ah yeah, it's so much better in the book where, you know, this should have happened. And so you won't be getting that in this podcast. no, no. So that might be good or bad.
00:05:53
Speaker
No. And as as I just went through in that that introduction, there's so many Stephen King stories. So many of them have been adapted and, you know, how they've been adapted. Some of them are drastically different to the book. Some of them are not. Some of them Stephen King hated. Some of them he worked on. um This is one he worked on. This is one he was very involved with. Other ones he wasn't. So it's kind of like, I don't know. And I think with him, with his work, yeah, some of them kind of people don't even know they are Stephen King. He's not always, it's not always known that they're Stephen King ah stories, I think, when he does them. Not always.
00:06:29
Speaker
Would you say Stephen King has single-handedly sort of had the biggest contribution to horror? Of any author? More than any other individual. i would say in an individual, really.
00:06:41
Speaker
I mean, come on, if if we're going to put like John Carpenter up there, I mean, a lot of the John Carpenter, I mean, he's worked with him a lot and stuff. Without some of Stephen King's ideas, what would horror cinema look like? Yeah, it's heavy hit. I mean, yeah.
00:06:56
Speaker
I mean, yeah, a lot of his stuff is kind of heavy hitting, you know, big, big famous kind of films or TV or stories. So, yeah, I guess probably, yeah, he's,
00:07:09
Speaker
he's pretty much up there in one of the most important figures, I guess, in, in horror, full stop. Yeah. Across all the, across, you say he's the king. Yeah. The king of horror. That's why they call him that. That's why they call him that.
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah. ah My question was going to be, when was the last time you saw this film? um Before the rewatch for the podcast, I honestly can't remember. It must have been mean like 15 years ago, maybe more. It's oddly one of those that isn't on TV for some reason. You get Shawshank Redemption come on, a Green Mile comes on. ah a lot of other Stand By Me comes on or even onto the streamers. I can't remember seeing Invisory on a streaming ah platform for ages. So it wasn't exactly easy to track down. so um yeah No. No, seen for ages either. But that was quite nice. It was quite refreshing to see something I hadn't seen for such a long time.
Hosts' Personal Tributes to 'Misery'
00:08:06
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. How about you? No, I haven't seen it for a really long time. i really hadn't. But it's a film that, as we'll talk about, I think it's it's a film that you remember very clearly. And fact, it did. yeah There were some bits of it that surprised me, but a lot of the bits of it I did remember very well.
00:08:23
Speaker
So I was kind of like, it's ah that's why I think wi's that's why we're talking about it, because it is quite ah ah an iconic film in its own right. ah Definitely. definitely um Hey, before we start um start the proceeding, start the timer, have you have you did you bring a tribute? I've got my tribute. Oh, I've got a tribute. you want go first?
00:08:41
Speaker
You should go first. You want me to? Okay, right. Well, I will. let Oh, I banged my mic in excitement. Okay, it's it's stable again. So this is always one of the most exciting parts of our podcast for me. It is true. This is normally the bit where I smack into the mic or throw something on the floor. It's Mike Bangworthy. It's the Mike Bang time. Right, this tribute. So this tribute I picked up.
00:09:05
Speaker
I picked this up in a charity shop. I can't completely validate it's authenticity. So, you know, ah can't, you know, it's exciting, but I can't tell you 100%, you know, it could be anything. But it is, I'll show you, it is. It's a mini poster for Misery for the film. If you look, it's signed.
00:09:29
Speaker
You've got Stephen King here. What? it James Caan. You've got Rob Reiner, the director, and you've got Kathy Bates all in this, on this. What?
00:09:41
Speaker
It doesn't have a bat. and yeah know Normally, sometimes they have a little stick of authenticity. Oh, yeah. like So I don't have that. I can't i can't haven't got that, but picked this up. That's probably why you know I got it for a good price in a charity shop.
00:09:53
Speaker
But I have got this here. Now, I'm not saying 100%, but... if you're ah if you If you keep an eye on the website, maybe we might run a competition to win this at some point.
00:10:06
Speaker
That might be the best prize we would ever have had on our site, potentially. Jiggling it around. nice, isn't it? it look even It just looks nice. It's just a nice thing. going to reach out Stephen King and just ask if he remembers writing on it and then just use that as our stamp of approval.
00:10:22
Speaker
Make it authentic. Make it the most valuable prize ever. on our side well that makes my bloody tribute look a bit rubbish doesn't it i don't know what's it what's your bloody tribute i'm gonna have to make my tribute seem better now hold on it's quite heavy
00:10:43
Speaker
is it that's brilliant it's an actual working typewriter that's brilliant it's an actual working typewriter and the and the uh n key's missing Brilliant. Are you going to bash someone's head in with it? It's not actually, but I could i could remove it.
00:10:59
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to bash someone's head in it as soon as the podcast finishes. right More than likely, I nearly bashed my own head in getting it out from the shelf that it was on. um I want to say it was signed by someone from the film just to make it sound nearly as cool as your poster bit. Unfortunately not.
00:11:16
Speaker
I'm going to be able to put this in shot because it's really heavy. No, that doesn't really heavy. Yeah, you don't want that to fall. No. Although if you do keep lifting it, you could build those arm muscles up like James Carr does. was going to say, that was a good workout, that. I feel like I'm going to hurt tomorrow.
00:11:32
Speaker
I'm going to hurt tomorrow. going feel that. Feel the burn. Feel the burn. Okay, well, I think we, are we ready to, are we ready to start the timer? Oh, what's your... I think so What's our alarm? So, yeah. Oh, so the sound this week. So when we meet our 30-minute deadline for talking about the film, this is what we're going to hear.
00:11:57
Speaker
Could you hear that? Could you hear that? one I could hear that. if it I liked it. A bit of a spoiler. I liked it. I liked it a lot. Something from the film. liked it a lot. A lot people's favourite silly moment from the film. Yeah. She likes saying cockadooody. Cockadooody. What's the other one?
00:12:11
Speaker
is Is that where she soundss she shouts at someone as well, doesn't she? while she She does a lot of... um she Yeah, her her swearing's pretty good. Bitchy can't porn.
00:12:23
Speaker
she says that one. Oh I can't remember that one. I like that she keeps calling him a dirty birdie. Oh, a dirty birdie. He's being a dirty birdie. of' course i want to show so on where I've got quotes. I'll save that.
00:12:36
Speaker
We'll come in. We'll come in but we'll save that yeah to save that. We should start the time. I'm um'm being naughty and talking. Let's get in there.
Synopsis and Analysis of 'Misery'
00:12:43
Speaker
Okay, right. Going to start the time in three, two, one.
00:12:48
Speaker
Okay, we're going. So I'll start with a synopsis.
00:12:53
Speaker
Directed by Rob Reiner and starring the powerhouse talents of Kathy Bates and James Caan, the story sees Paul Sheldon, a hugely popular writer on his way back from a remote lodge in the snow-covered woods where he's been finishing his new book that would take his career to new heights.
00:13:11
Speaker
Caught in a blizzard, he crashes his car and sustains horrific injuries, but is pulled from the wreckage by a local named Annie Wilkes, who is not only a nurse, but is also coincidentally his number one fan.
00:13:24
Speaker
Is it coincidence? it? Is it? I think it is. Bedridden with broken legs and cut and bruised all over, Paul is dependent on Annie to look after him while he recovers. He's cut off from the world as his savior reveals that the roads are closed and the telephone lines are down.
00:13:43
Speaker
Fawning and sycophantic at first, Annie tends to pause every need, revealing that Misery Chastain, the star of the novels, her favorite character,
00:13:55
Speaker
ah means the world to her, as does her creator. But when she learns that Paul has killed the character off in his latest book, her personality switches and a psychotic side emerges. Paul then realises that his life is in the hands of an unhinged fanatic and he must figure out a way to escape.
00:14:15
Speaker
Oh, that's good. That's good. that's i that i mean, we we we we we kind of, you're going get spoilers in this podcast, I'm sorry to say. But I think that's that's, I mean, one of the good things about this film is it gets going pretty quickly, doesn't it? It's quite a quick opening.
00:14:30
Speaker
It's all in the intro. It's great. I love that intro. It's really good. Yeah, straight in. like you get him like you You have him like finishing his book and doing his little ritual with his like his cigarette and his ah his champagne and everything. And then he's driving, playing that like ah song. that like they'll say it some it's that The song's really funny. it's like some It kind of doesn't feel...
00:14:52
Speaker
because the writing or the text and the of the titles is quite like creepy and he's like shotgun it's like really funky song when he's driving his car remember which one it is yeah yeah it's quite good and the next thing he's just like it careers off the road. It's like a horrible, like a horrible crash scene.
00:15:09
Speaker
um Yeah. And then he's kind of like, yeah. It's like, um it's it's like a ah lesson in great filmmaking in what is told in that opening, however many minutes it is while the titles are up without any dialogue.
00:15:24
Speaker
Other than him saying bullseye or still got it or whatever it is when he throws the snowball. He doesn't say anything, but you know everything is visual. You see the cigarette, you see the champagne, you see the manuscript in the little yeah docket thing that he's carrying. yeah And it all like yeah so clever. and she And you even hear her with a kind of warped voice saying, I'm your number one fan, don't you? When she kind of drags him out of the car and everything. No, it's brilliant. It's a really, really good opening. I think all of that is pretty much... And the fact that she says that she gives him some drugs, doesn't she? She says he can't get to the hospital because the blizzard's too bad. You're but not pretty much in the film, and that's all kind of under 10 minutes. You're in the film, and they're in that set-up straight away, um which is really, really good.
00:16:07
Speaker
And then I think it's quite... It gets... It's quite a simplistic story, really, isn't it? It's not it's not a complicated story. It is just that, as as you said in that synopsis, like it is that he's there, he's completely you know incapacitated, he can't really do anything so he's so mucked up. She looks after him and then you're kind of you're kind of learning about him, but you're also learning about her.
00:16:31
Speaker
And I think it's a it's good for the fact that you know Well, they're great characters, number one, but also she she comes across as odd pretty quickly, doesn't she? this You know something's quite quickly as well. you know there's not yeah it's not It's not hidden. It's not like there's other films where this this could go on for ages and then she might switch quite near the end. But it's not really hidden. I mean, I think the first bit is when, because he's writing he's he's been writing his new book, which is a kind of change of direction, isn't it?
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. It's like it's set in like, I think it's like, he's it's supposed to be about his childhood and stuff. And they're like, it's like this, the street urchins or something, can't they? Like growing up on the rough streets. and And she, she reads the book, she reads it. And then she has this massive, quite amusing rant about all the swearing in it and about how, oh yeah, that's right.
00:17:25
Speaker
i don't go I don't go to the feedster in town and say, oh, now, Wally, give me a bag of that effing pig feed. And like she just goes on this weird kind of rant about it. and and then And then she she spills something and is just like, oh, you made me do that. You made me do that. And you're kind of like, yeah oh, wow, this is...
00:17:43
Speaker
something is It's the little glimpses that some things are bit broken, like even really early on from that and that gradual kind of like snowball effect to that. And it's weird as well because i feel like that character and those kind of traits, like almost, this is almost the archetype for everything that followed.
00:18:04
Speaker
yeah Like in other films where you've got people who are similarly kind of unhinged and a bit obsessed with people. Yeah. Like I feel like a lot of her traits are things that are now commonplace. So now when you see it in a film, after seeing like Misery and other similar films like it, as soon as you see someone just kind of twitching a little bit, you're like, oh, here we go. It's an Annie Williams. Yeah, you know it.
00:18:26
Speaker
But when this came out, yeah it was a bit more of a kind of, oh, that's very clever. Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely. And I mean, it's also interesting because it's quite a um considering considering it's a film, it's quite stagey.
Theatrical Qualities and Performances
00:18:41
Speaker
It's quite like you could imagine this being a theatre performance, really. Oh, totally. Because it's fundamentally mostly in in that one room. It's mostly two characters. 100%.
00:18:51
Speaker
um It's a lot of like acting. It's a lot more about the performances and and their relationships than it is about anything else. um You know, you do get, i think i think it's really good because you do cut away and you do get the um the the police who are kind of investigating, aren't they? Because there's a the really good character of, what's he called? He's called Buster, I believe. yeah Richard Farnsworth is Buster and france Francis Sturhead. Sternhagen she's Virginia who's his like wife slash deputy deputy and they're kind of yeah he's like it's kind of local cop isn't he and he's he's a little bit intrigued by the story because obviously as you're seeing that um
00:19:30
Speaker
As time's passing, you're seeing that you know they're reporting that he's completely missing. They conclude, don't they, that he's died, that the the car, they find the car and they say that he he must have crawled out of it and died. But that copy is not really, he's not convinced, is he? And his investigation is going along, but it's not, that's not really the main film. It's just going along kind of little here and there. You just kind of go back to him every so often, which I think really works really well.
00:19:54
Speaker
because you know it's it's just like it's like the biggest thing to happen in their town isn't it it's like someone quite famous has gone missing so he's like really oh oh this could be really exciting he's like really invested in it isn't he yeah yeah definitely yeah no it's funny you should say about the it being like a stage thing because obviously yeah before this although she was involved in um she was obviously involved in other film films and stuff but um Kathy Bates was predominantly, well, ah saw a lot of her early success from stage and like a lot of films that were made from ah things that she did on stage um you know became films because ah yeah people saw ah her perform, even though they they yeah didn't cast her in the actual film versions. I think it was the impact of her on stage. Her performance, yeah. So that that's why that comes through. But I think also when we reviewed Blair Witch Project a few weeks back, uh one of the things that we said that we thought we really was really clever about that was um just how great an example it was of a film that does a massive amount with like surprisingly little yeah and again that's i mean this is like a way bigger budget way more of a hollywood film obviously more stars in it and stuff but um
00:21:13
Speaker
uh considering how limited the locations are simplicity of the story uh and yeah and it all does just happen really quickly like it is again another lesson in just how to oh yeah in film i say so much oh yeah definitely and i mean even though me saying it's quite stage in theatrical it's not boring there is a lot of like well it's very well directed And in fact, to get the performances you get, I mean, and the performances are fantastic. They're both, you've got two actors, just like absolute powerhouse performances. And what's good is they're both, they're both just acting so much and so well. And I think they're both so different. So,
00:21:51
Speaker
kind of Kathy Bates is very emotive. You can see her moods up and down. you know She goes from this kind of like yeah kind of like you said like sycophantic fan and just all kind of giggly and silly to go into this kind of like insane anger and just like aggression of violence and violence. Then even later on, you get these moments where she's just really like dead and like kind of blank and talks about suicide. and She just goes to this like kind of cut-off emotionalist level, which is even as kind of scary, really. um on then don knows that so yeah yeah yeah definitely oh no definitely and james khan a lot of what he's his performance a lot of his performance is in not what he's saying kind of his looks you know that you can kind of see the pain constantly on his face you know how the injuries i mean the makeup and the effects are very subtle but they're very well done i mean his legs are it's horrible looking at them when you see them early on they just look really nasty
00:22:48
Speaker
um And a lot of his a lot of his emotions, his acting is coming from how he's looking, his eyes. um yeah He learns quite early on that he can't really say everything he wants to say. So he's kind of playing along with um with Kathy Bates' character. And it's sometimes it's in the tone, his sarcasm, or just kind of like what he's not saying is what what's really there. So it is it really is i mean it is a masterclass in acting, really, from these two. it's It's amazing performances from these two. you know and even beside that you've got like you've got like said you've got the two cops you've also got Lauren Bacall's in it um Hollywood legend as the as his agent gives a really good turn as well um yeah she's really good
00:23:28
Speaker
yeah But it's like I say, interestingly, it's quite a simple story. So really all that's happening so is, yeah, he works out. she's kind of There's something not right there.
00:23:39
Speaker
a couple of times he kind of tries to, well, it's a yeah, she burns his book, doesn't she? She burns his new book and says that's why she's realized that God has delivered him That's good. Yeah. Um, God has delivered him to her to like carry on writing the misery Chastain books. And that's, that's what he's there for. She's, she's there to motivate him to, to take this character that he's killed and bring it back.
00:24:04
Speaker
Um, and he really he tries to get out the room doesn't he kind of he is a couple of forays into kind of crawling around and like getting out yeah um yeah very ten which which usually result in like real tense moments as well because you got that really and again done really well like again probably like the kind of something uh inspirational to any other movie makers out there who want to really nail that kind of tension that gets you right near edge your seat where you know he's literally trying to pull himself around as she pulls back up to the house and he's got a like you know re-lock doors and put things back how they were and grabbed things just before yeah just to get there at the last minute
00:24:45
Speaker
And those are really interesting as well because that's the kind of, they're the moments when when he discovers more about her. So he finds this kind of weird scrapbook, doesn't he And it's kind of, it's got all these kind of cuttings about her. her I think it it implies, doesn't it imply that she killed her own dad, I think.
00:25:02
Speaker
I thought there one about her dying. Yeah, it's funny, scrapbook. Yeah, that scrapbook is maybe like the but the weakest point for me. Like i think when I first watched it, it was fine, but it felt like a bit of a very convenient and a bit obvious. I can see what you're saying. that She had a complicated backstory. She gives it all like, oh, well, you know, when I was, you know, when I had stand trial, blah, blah, blah, blah. There's some sort of reference to a court case that she was in. And you're a bit like, oh, what's that all about? And so he finds that very convenient scrapbook with memory lane written on. then that gives us the full backstory with newspaper cuttings that she's kept.
00:25:44
Speaker
of pretty much everything that she's, every salacious act she's been involved in, which seems a bit weird for someone who seems quite, ah actually quite well behaved the majority of the time, but has sort of angry moments. yeah um And it's like moments in her life where people have either plunged their death ah died in slightly dodgy circumstances or were somehow linked to her or yeah were in her care like kids in a children's hospital. yeah, and babies and stuff. Yeah, it's pretty marked up, yeah. Yeah.
00:26:16
Speaker
And the one where it basically said she was like a monster, a dragon. It says like dragon lady or something. Dragon lady, yeah. I'm like, would she have kept that? Would she have gone, look, it's me as a dragon lady. I remember that really fun time when I went to court.
00:26:29
Speaker
It's really important for him now because yeah it's it's it's an important device because makes him realize, one, what he's up against, and two, makes him justify you know the act of killing her because he thinks, right, she's a killer.
00:26:43
Speaker
That means it's me or her. And so it's an important sort of element to have in it because up until that point, you're not sure if she's just a bit, he might've just pitied her and thought, oh, she's just a bit unstable. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. i mean, it kind of, yeah, it solidifies that she is, there's definitely something going on here and she's done, she's done bad things in her past. i can see what you're saying is quite convenient and it does feel a bit too, maybe it's a bit much, But I think within a film where you don't know so much and you are um you aren't given many clues, I think it's it's fair that you get a bit of... You've got to do it somehow, right? Yeah, you've got to show something somehow. um
00:27:22
Speaker
I quite like as well that he he has that entire kind of... um He's being given like pills, isn't he, for his pain to keep him sedated. And I quite like that he that whole plan where he gathers up all the the the kind of the yeah the insides of the pills and he gets like this whole convoluted thing of getting air dinner with her. and then um But it's just she knocks over the drink. It's not that she like finds out at that point or it's not a big reveal. It's just a silly accident. And he has to kind of give up on this whole thing.
00:27:51
Speaker
That was his whole plan and just completely mucks up for a silly accident. So I think that's quite good. And you are, you're, you're sure it's all going to work out or you're like, this is great. And when she does it, you're like, oh, what? And then his face just says it all. He's just like, yeah she's like, I'm so sorry. Can it again? He's just like,
00:28:07
Speaker
man Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. Yeah. that's good Yeah. And then we're kind of, we've moved to probably. Yeah, it's a good little twist. I like that. It moves along really nicely. and We get to the point here, though, because like I say, he's been yeah he's been kind of going around the house and he's been doing his little investigations.
Analysis of the Iconic Hobbling Scene
00:28:25
Speaker
um But we get to the point here where it's probably the bit most people, if they've seen this film or if they know this film, They'll be aware of this moment, which is the bit where he wakes up and he's been drugged again, hasn't he? Well, she stands over and injects him. There's all a lot of thunder and lightning. and that He's been sneaking about, hasn't he? Yeah. She knows he's been sneaking up because he turned the penguin back the wrong way. that's what it was. Never do that make it face north, always south for a penguin. Always point that penguin the right way. should have learned that. um and then she does this yeah basically she does this big speech about um about the the people that worked in the diamond mines and how they you know they wouldn't kill them because it would be a waste of of what they uh you know be a waste so they they hobble them they do the hobbling and it is i mean this scene is just like oh he gets hobbled doesn't he He gets hobbled. So it's a, if it's really hobbled, puts a piece of wood, pulls the bed, pulls the bedclothes back, puts a bit of wood between his ankles. And then he has a massive sledgehammer and you see the first foot. I mean, it just completely just goes, up well doesn't I mean, it's, it's horrible. It's so horrible. Like, it's very realistic.
00:29:39
Speaker
and And it's one of those moments you would normally in in a mainstream film with that because it was a kind of mainstream movie at the time, but it's one of those moments that the camera would have cut away. Usually you cut something just like his face. But the fact that you actually see the foot snap oh yeah was a brave decision, but made it very memorable. and Oh, definitely. Yeah.
00:30:00
Speaker
definitely made more of a horror i know we both said that we didn't read the book did you know in the book she she cuts his left foot off with an axe i did hear that and then she yeah then she cauterizes the stump with a propane torch that's what she does so uh it says the scene was changed so he got off light really this this version he gets off light yeah
00:30:24
Speaker
I guess so. I guess so I guess he gets off flight. I guess. I mean, I think, I think they made the right decision though. I think something too extreme would have been, would have been too much. I think, I think the power this film has is that it,
00:30:38
Speaker
you know, within her performance as well, she just goes far enough that it's not too far. She's not... you you is funny sometimes, but it's also not funny. And I think if there'd been an excessive amount of gore in this film, it would have been easier to laugh at it or to get... Almost laugh as in it was funny, but almost get so uncomfortable that you laugh. But by doing this, by having how realistic... It is really because it so looks so realistic and you can just...
00:31:02
Speaker
you just imagine it and you can see it. I think that works so much better because it, it it excuse the pun, hammers home the fact that this is real. that there's like and it And also, like i think it's it's great as well because he's spent all this time getting better and like going out getting a key and all this. He's gone so far forward. And then she literally sets him back to kind of before the accident. Like it's on the accident, isn't it? It's like, he's gone all the way back again and he's just got nothing. He's just like completely defeated. Like, I think that's a really, it's a really great way of power.
00:31:36
Speaker
Yeah. The power. It's her asserting power, isn't it? It's her asserting her power over him because it is exactly like i was saying about how important this character is and how others have followed it. It's that evolution from um her sort of idolizing him as her hero and doing anything for him and thinking everything's amazing. to sort of sneaking in with a bit of oh i've got a bit of constructive criticism but you don't want to hear it but oh can i tell you anyway and yeah him going oh no that's fine and then yeah she gets power and it grows and then eventually she feels like she's superior and yeah he's like uh inferior in her eyes now because he's dirty or he's you know wrong or he's bad and you know, he's sullied.
00:32:23
Speaker
So it's this kind of weird. And because she is, seems like she's from like a religious background. Yeah, it's that as well, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. It feels like she has these very kind of strong feelings of right and wrong and, you know, people who are good and people who are bad.
00:32:40
Speaker
And it's also, i mean, the other thing that's kind of interesting, so, you know, he's he's also been like, as we said about the um the ah the ah typewriter, he's been building his strength up, hasn't he? He's been like building his arm muscles up and stuff like that and trying to work things out. But but he's also been writing this this ah Misery Chastain novel and the interesting thing about that is that she thinks it's absolutely brilliant. And the fact is that she is, she is his number one fan. She is, she is, she does encapsulate the readers of this type of book, these kind of romance novels. So it obviously is a really good, he doesn't want to write those books anymore, but he obviously has written a very good book. It obviously is as good as all his other books are. And it's kind of, it's ironic that,
00:33:24
Speaker
how, you know, whether he doesn't want to write that or not, doesn't matter. But she's kind of made him write this really good book, like this book that is like, that there'll be loads of other people like her that would want another book who would have been upset how he killed the
Reflection on Fandom and Irony
00:33:37
Speaker
character off. And they kind of, they all want this book as much as she wants this book.
00:33:41
Speaker
it's kind of ironic that this, what she's done has made him produce this kind of wonderful piece of like work, especially with what happens, um you know, in the end. But, um but yeah, but before that, we kind of get a bit, there's a bit more of the investigation and um it's quite good, isn't it? Because the, the cop has got all her, all, um, James Kahn's book characters books. And he's kind of read them all. And he's kind of trying to get into the head of, cause everyone else has given up on the investigation. I'm not sure how that helps him, but you know, somehow, somehow. Well, it is, well, he comes, up with a convenient again he comes up with a convenient way of working out because he as you said he liked the scrapbook he he realizes there's a line in the book which is exactly what Annie said when she was put on trial for those murders it quotes exactly the same thing at her trial about not being judged she would be judged by a higher power whatever and it makes him put this kind of connection together um and then but brilliantly he goes to the house doesn't he
00:34:41
Speaker
Um, and it's cause at this point I think he's cause there's a, I think they've, but they've, they've, they've had a bit of a, he goes to the hardware store as well. Just now yeah he goes to the hardware store and gets a few more clothes as well.
00:34:54
Speaker
But yeah, it's just when he's, um, yeah. Um, Paul's just having another go at trying to escape, isn't he? At that point. and Yeah. And she's put him in the basement. Bad time. Yeah, he kind of turns up and there's again a really good tense scene between them where they're both again, it's all about what's not being said because he obviously really suspects her, but he's just been really polite and she obviously wants him gone. She's just being really polite as well. And it's this really kind of horribly tense, like what's going to happen. And then the brilliant shock is that she just gets a shotgun and blows a massive hole in him, um which I'd completely forgot happened.
00:35:28
Speaker
And I really, i always felt really sad because I really liked that character. I felt really like, oh, yeah damn it. It's not a nice way to go, it? There's no coming back. it's He's not just injured. He's just proper.
00:35:39
Speaker
no Straight through the heart. Yeah. Open chest. Boom. Yeah. Yeah. It's not nice way for him to go. No, it's... And then after that, she doesn't even then take responsibility for that. She says, don't feel guilty, Paul.
00:35:53
Speaker
It's fine. You know, it had to happen that way. but like She blames everything on him. Like, she thinks he's great and thinks he's done all these great things, but in her mind, like... he yeah she's got a very child-like brain and she still kind of very much lives like a child it's almost like uh it's a bit like the ed gain i don't know if you've seen in the ed gain netflix thing it's a bit like that kind of a it's kind of like a fractured childhood where they've they've kind of been brought up in a strict religious household It's something you see, I suppose, in quite a lot of sort of backwards yeah yeah sort of horror movies. Strict upbringing, quite often religious, and it leaves them in this perpetual sort of childlike state. But it just means that their emotions are very volatile.
00:36:39
Speaker
One minute they're really meek and quiet, next minute they're losing it. but um Yeah. Yeah, she just... she goes off up to her bedroom she's just eating junk food watching trashy tv yeah know at that moment like a kid really yeah and think again that's another element of her character and whether or not it's the the character itself or more the portrayal by kathy bates but like it just it makes you very it makes it very hard to hate her in a lot of ways you're sort of feeling sorry for her totally No, she's a great, I think she is a great, I think why she was put in that list of great Hollywood, like great horror villains or Hollywood movie villains is that, yeah, there's something, all the best villains, especially in horror, there's something you kind like about them. There's something, and with her, you do feel a bit sorry for her. Definitely, you feel bad for her, but also you kind of, it's quite enjoyable watching her and she's kind of, and as I said, in a way,
00:37:36
Speaker
in terms of what, uh, him killing off this character that everyone loved that made him a superstar that, you know, he's been a bit of a, um, an arsehole really, because this is the thing that made him famous. And he's kind of throwing all these fans under the bus and he's kind of, you know, you know, and you do wonder how much of this is coming from Stephen King of like, you know,
00:37:58
Speaker
There were points definitely where he didn't want to write horror anymore. He didn't want to write types of horror. I mean, that's why he did the whole Richard Backman. He put a pseudonym on and then wrote books and he wanted to prove to himself that it wasn't his name that was selling the books. It was his writing. So he released several books under this other name and they did really well. And people were like, oh, it's almost like Stephen King. And it proved to him that it was, you know, because he almost thought he was a pretender. It wasn't about his writing anymore. just these books are selling off his name. But in fact, what she's getting him to. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, there's a lot within this world, there are going to be a lot of fans of these books that think she's right, that he should be going back to these books and he shouldn't betray them.
00:38:42
Speaker
um And I think it's really good how in the film it all comes full circle because she goes to that emotionless level again, doesn't she? And she's like, well, you know, you finished the book now. So, you know, going to, I'm going to, I'll kill you. Then I'll kill myself, but this book will live on. And, you know, that's how it's supposed to be. You know, we've done it now. And she's, it's kind of like, you know, she's gone this other place. And he manages to kind of convince her, doesn't he? That, you know, like my, you know, well, we should do my ritual. We should, you know, we should a glass of champagne and a cigarette and all that. He smuggled the kind of the propane or whatever is, a little bit lighter fluid, hasn't from the basement?
00:39:20
Speaker
um and yeah kind of the ending i think it's a brilliant ending because he just he just covers he's got the script he just covers the script that he's written the whole the whole book he's written and he's like gonna light it on fire and he like starts taunting her like oh yeah you remember how you know no one knew who misery's real father was yeah well like you know whether she's gonna well it's all in here it's all in here and you're never gonna read it and he just like sets fired to it all and she goes like yeah yeah she goes absolutely mental um she goes absolutely mental he knows she'll leap on the floor so he can do the killing blow he does the whole typewriter doesn't he like smashes her in the head with the typewriter and there's a quite a guess that the fight is quite again quite real he's like poking her eyes and it's quite like it's very realistic and very quick as well yeah like it's not one these overly drawn out scenes either considering the length of the film yeah it's actually quite brief
00:40:13
Speaker
yeah Which again is probably more realistic as well. Yeah, it's that kind of messiness of it. You know, he still can't really walk properly. She's been hit in the head. It's like quite a lot of like the tussling, isn't And he does the thing where he's like trying to make her eat the ashes of the book, which is quite funny. And then he has to swing his leg around with his hand at some point to like trip her up. Yeah, trips her up and she smacks her head. And then you get the kind of, you get that kind of extra jump scare, which I would say I don't. I think this film's a bit better than that jump scare. Yeah.
00:40:46
Speaker
do you know what mean it's bit weird isn't it i don't like i don't like that she comes back again and he has to like smack a big doorstop i don't think she's i think that feels like a kind of freddie or a that's a slasher movie villain that isn't a real that feels not real i don't like that so that's my that's probably if you say my weakest moment is probably that final jump scare i don't really like that um But then you have a brilliant, brilliant. I've only got a minute and a half. Okay. We have a brilliant ending. So we're at the ending where he's with his, uh, he's back with his editor and he's released this book and the critics are raving about it.
00:41:22
Speaker
And, um, they're kind of talking about a little bit, aren't they talking about her and all that? And he, he says, oh, she's, you know, i I see her all the time. She's never left me. And then he looks in this, he's in a posh restaurant and he looks and there's the woman coming with the dessert tray and it's, it's Annie Wilkes and Zach, I'm the
Impactful Ending of 'Misery'
00:41:38
Speaker
number one fan. And it cuts and it's just another woman. And I think it's a really good, like the fact that it's going to be, that is it now. He's traumatized forever. that This character, this person is never going to leave me He's always going to see her forever. no I think it's a really good, like hammering home, the real horror that he can't escape that, you know, that he is, he is haunted now by this person, by these, by the actions that have taken place and all that. And I think that's kind of the true horror of it. I like that. I like that ending.
00:42:06
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I wonder if that is almost like the way Stephen King probably feels that his characters haunt him. He creates these books and these characters in it. And, you know, even through fame and by being committed celluloid and stuff, they're then stuck with him and people will always say to him, oh, that character. And maybe maybe he's a bit haunted by all the different spooky, her horrific creations that he has. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. in that weird In that weird where he's kind of almost writing about himself when he's putting himself in these situations. a Yeah.
00:42:39
Speaker
Literally. but Yeah, I think so. I think it's it represents that. represents that these characters are, like I said in the beginning, the characters have become bigger than the author themselves. I definitely think it's that. He didn't get out of the car, the duty car!
00:42:53
Speaker
Oh, no! Oh, we ran out of time. Didn't quite make it. I thought we were going to make it through the... What was it was thinking we were going to make it to? I thought we would at least get through the facts, but we haven't.
00:43:05
Speaker
In true form, we're running over again, but carry on. It's fine. Okay. well i will as it gives you We're never going to nail this 30-minute thing. No, it's hard. it's different It's difficult. When you're going through, it's difficult. You'll have to forgive us, folks. we We'll get there in the end. um I was just going to say that because um what is what it is one of my facts as well, but um um he didn't really... ah he was quiet Stephen King wouldn't really ever talk about the um the book. he was very kind of like He refused to talk about misery for two decades, in fact. oh um wow and it actually yet What it actually was about, the book was about, and again, this is a difference between the book and the film, a lot of it was about his battle with substance abuse.
00:43:48
Speaker
So in the book, he the character is a drug was a drug addict and recovering. And obviously when when Annie Wilkes is giving him the pain pills, he then relapses into becoming an addict again. Now in the film, that isn't really obvious. It's not he's just being given the pain pills and he actually quite quickly stops taking them. So obviously it was something yeah King didn't want in the film, but he did put in the book.
00:44:12
Speaker
And I think a lot of for Stephen King, that character represented the drug that his the drug abuse and how it's kind of always there. It's always with him. It's this kind of figure that looms over him that he couldn't he couldn't ever escape. um So I think that's you know that's how he wrote the book. But I think what you said is very true as well. It's so like about the characters. it's about those about what you know it's about um It's about the characters looming over him and the fans as well. um And I also think it's like, ah it's also very, it's a very good, um,
00:44:46
Speaker
it's a very good representation of um how anyone can suddenly be become dependent. You know, if any of of us could have an accident or something happened to us, and then we're very dependent on someone else, whether that's in hospital And can you trust that person that you're with? Well, exactly. Yeah, and if you're dependent on someone who then takes advantage of that, that's a very deep-seated fear that we would be vulnerable and someone would take advantage of that. I think this film... very cleverly goes down that road and um yeah i think that's uh yeah i think that's a really deep meaning of this film the main character in secret window actually secret window there are a lot of parallels with misery i suppose just about have been based around an author but again it's it's a bit like a dr jekyll and mr hyde thing again there so it's like an addiction aspect so he's trying not to smoke he's given up smoking i think he might have given up drinking But then he has this sort of split personality who's kind of a bit more, you know, who smokes cigarettes and is like this. So, again, it probably is like a bit of Stephen King's ah self coming out. Write what you know. That's what they say, isn't it? Write what you know. Or write about yourself. Just do that.
00:45:58
Speaker
Exactly. It's a little My only other, well, got a couple of more, not really big facts, but, I mean, I think he was saying about the – Stephen King was quite impressed with Kathy Bates' performance and he wrote two more roles for her.
00:46:11
Speaker
ah So the title role in the novel, Dolores Claiborne, was written with her in mind and she did star in the film. Yeah. And he actually wrote in The Stand, ah he wrote the script for the TV miniseries, The Stand. His original novel featured a male character called Ray Flowers, but when he heard Bates wanted to be involved, he changed that character to be a woman so that she could play the part. Oh, Amazing. So it was obviously quite, yeah. What a compliment if you're Kathy Bates, do you know what mean? Yeah, yeah, mean yeah, definitely. mean, deservedly, but mean, that is so cool.
00:46:42
Speaker
Yeah. My only other kind of interesting fact, I think, again, which because it's about the um about the deviations between the book and the and the film, is that the character of the sheriff, in the book, it's multiple different police people or the police departments that are investigating. But what they did was they kind of grabbed all those characters and put them together in this character of Buster and his deputy. So they're actually vented for the film. And it kind of put them all together to just be that the one person was looking into it rather than multiple different people. So I think that's kind of interesting because I think that's ah where I think that that's better in the film. i think it works better. um You know, I think lots different people. Makes a bit more plausible that she manages to keep it low profile yeah avoid detection and stuff, doesn't it? Well, and also it makes it some i could say it makes it quite shocking when he's actually killed that you do feel something for this character. It's not just a random like police person who's just turned up and seen something. So, yeah.
00:47:37
Speaker
What about your love horror links, Tom? On the facts, I was just going say, when you were doing your fact-finding, did you work out how Paul Sheldon manages to put two pills in his mouth and they don't dissolve because he manages to take them out again? No, I didn't see that. Oh, what hell? That would never work with me. Does that?
00:47:54
Speaker
I don't remember that. Yeah, there's, this he takes two pills. There's one point when he's like, oh, but it does something. That's the trick. They're in there a while. your tongue They're in there a while. And then he takes them out and they're like new. and I'm like, no, I don't know. Unless this in the 90s, there were pills that were like encased in actual plastic. I don't know. Maybe. Or maybe it's one of pills that's supposed to go somewhere else. That's why it doesn't dissolve. Maybe. Oh, yeah. Maybe that's the end. Maybe.
00:48:22
Speaker
Ooh, hadn't about that. They're quite small for those sorts of pills. but um No, oh actually, I've got one sort of weird link, but that's also a fact almost. that You mentioned Lauren Bacall, the actress, who's who's the ah Paul Sheldon's agent in this. yeah She was also, um obviously, act an actress in tons and tons of films. But in 1981, for...
00:48:48
Speaker
get your words out, 1981, she was in a film called The Fan. oh where she was ah an actress and she was the lead. No, no, no, no. Not the Robert De Niro one. No, no, because that is going be one of my links. But wait, wait, wait, wait. Sorry. This film was called The Fan, but it's not connected to The Fan with Robert De Niro. And in that, she's an actress and a guy gets obsessed with her and stalks her. So it's similar to this. Yeah.
00:49:16
Speaker
but But yeah, so I thought that was interesting. Yeah, yes but not. So I mean, I've not seen that. But yeah, can check that out as a link as well. yeah Then you've got the 1996 The Fan with Robert De Niro, where yes Robert De Niro plays the obsessive ah baseball fan yeah ah who stalks his baseball his favorite baseball star, who's Wesley Snipes plays. Yeah, I think I've seen it. And ah there's a lot of me talking repeatedly in this podcast about how important Kathy Bates' portrayal of this, Annie Wilkes' is in this. um I think there's a lot in his performance in that yeah that feels reminiscent. And so I think yeah you can see her influence in that. Yeah.
00:49:59
Speaker
Another link, the king of comedy. Have you seen that? Oh yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah. I have seen that. Yeah. De Niro again, like, and this time he plays an aspiring comedian who longs to be, uh, work with like a, he's got an idol who is a talk show host and he ends up kidnapping him. But, um, it's just another really good example of De Niro playing a very convincing psychopath yeah with serious kind of narcissistic kind of personality disorder.
00:50:27
Speaker
um again similar to and then one more i was gonna mention would be uh which is a bit different actually really but again really good performance of someone who gets obsessed with someone one hour photo uh 2002 oh i like that that's a great film yeah it's a photo technician you remember yeah that's really good he gets obsessed a family that he processes their photos doesn't he from holidays and stuff yeah obsessed with them yeah that is that's a really good film yeah that's a good don't think don of many people know about you Have you got any links?
00:50:58
Speaker
I have. Well, but the weird one I found, so there's a TV series called Castle Rock. Are you aware of Castle Rock? I've heard of it. I've never watched it. No, me neither. It's an American horror TV show adapted from Stephen King's fictional town of Castle Rock. So it's about the town. But the season two ah serves as a prequel to Misery and Annie Wilkes' story. So she's a character within, I think, lots of Stephen King characters live in this Castle Rock town. And that season two is about her backstory when she was younger. So that's kind of, ah that's an interesting one. Definitely worth checking that out. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And my other links is, as always, I try to head over to Love Horror because we've got an article on 10 lesser known Stephen King adaptations.
00:51:44
Speaker
We've got a feature on that. ah We've also got with the Stephen King books I did read. You can read my 100 pages of horror reviews for Mr. Mercedes and Dr. Sleep. um And also, ah i did an interview quite a while back ah with a guy called Mike Flanagan. who at the time ah he had directed a Stephen King adaptation called Gerald's Game.
00:52:09
Speaker
But he then went on to do Dr. Sleep, which is the sequel to The Shining. So if you read that interview, which was when he was doing Gerald's Game, it's kind of interesting because I think he knew he had Dr. Sleep at that point. And he was a huge, him and his producer, interviewed him in this lovely hotel. They were huge Stephen King fans. And I think rereading that interview, I think he knew he was, he'd done well with Stephen King. He was in there and he knew there was another project coming. He kind of hints that there's something else coming.
00:52:38
Speaker
um So yeah. So yeah, you can, I think Mike Flanagan's working on a new version of Carrie at the moment, actually. i think' i think he's it's I think it's just because what he does, he gets it right, and Stephen King likes him. And he was a lovely bloke, and he really, really cares about the the you know the the source material, and I think that's what Stephen King wants. um And, yeah like yeah, we've got reviews of Doctor Sleep and Gerald's Game, which are both Stephen King.
00:53:02
Speaker
I really like Mike Flanagan's stuff, his series on um his various series on Netflix I really like, House on... yeah haunted hill was it oh did he do that well i'm sure i'm getting that right when the blood the b blind manor one and also midnight club and that oh was it midnight mass as well yeah that's that's really good so yeah he's really good this is his tv shows are great as well so there you go direct Yeah.
00:53:31
Speaker
But um well how would you rate Misery, Al? Well, i I really like, I mean, I was thinking about, I still think it's brilliant. I think it's a great film. I think you've got a horror, ah Annie Wilkes is a horror icon for sure.
00:53:44
Speaker
They're amazing performances. It's just absolutely amazing
Conclusion: 'Misery's' Influence in Horror History
00:53:48
Speaker
performances. It's, you know, it's it's a great film for switching its tones, you know, for like keeping you on it on the edge. It's very well told. Yeah.
00:53:57
Speaker
It builds brilliantly. um So I would, I think it's iconic. I would probably give it a five out of five. I think it's, I think it's well up there. I think that, you know, purely for the performances alone. And, and as you say, I think it's a lot more influential. Her performance is more influential than probably is talked about in, in anyone playing that kind of character. They've they've got echoes of this, this performance within them. So I'd say a five out five, but what would you give it Tom?
00:54:23
Speaker
No, 100%. I completely agree with everything you said. um i think what i love about it is that it's relatively short. ah There's no lulls in it whatsoever.
00:54:34
Speaker
the The performances by Khan and Bates are just like amazing and yeah faultless. yeah And I'm just generally a sucker for, I think, ah not only Stephen King, but sort of his film adaptations anyway. So yeah.
00:54:50
Speaker
I can't think of ah Stephen King film ah adaptation I haven't liked and also can't think of anything that can really fault in this film. like I did say that about the book, but yeah, how else you going to tell her backstory without like having to have flashbacks or some other? No, I think actually yeah my only other criticism may be the music is a bit over the top at times, but I don't think that's anyone's fault. I think that's just that's that period. they They didn't go for subtlety with the music. and I think the music can be a bit heavy-handed, but that's me really nitpicking. um and i said it was It was very of its time.
00:55:25
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it was a bit kind of Silence of the Lambs kind of yeah era of that kind of firm ah basic instinct, that that similar sort of score. And then you have the old sort of 1950s throwback music kind of put in, as you always seem to with Stephen King, always with Stephen King films, just to let you know, oh, you know. Yeah. um But yeah, yeah, so far from me as well, I think. Excellent.
00:55:49
Speaker
Great. Well, that was another classic. If you agree or you don't agree, reach out, ah tell us. And as I say, maybe we may be doing something to ah win this little thing behind me here. Yeah, we've got to work out how we're going to do that. I think yeah like if if we find out it's authentic, you're going to need some kind of, you're going need one of briefcases with the handcuffs.
00:56:12
Speaker
around your wrists to go out of your place to take it to the post office. We're going to have to pay the highest amount of money for shipping to make sure it gets there safely. I think, yeah, don't know. I don't know if that's going to happen.
00:56:24
Speaker
But yeah, it's still pretty cool, even if it's a reproduction. It's a lovely thing. Very cool. It's very cool, by the way. And what is our next episode as we barrel towards Christmas?
00:56:36
Speaker
Exactly. Get ready to get festive because it's got to be a nice creepy Christmas Krampus movie, I think, hasn't it? You've already said it.
00:56:46
Speaker
You've already said it. I know. Well, do you know, they there aren't that many good Christmas horror films. we're We're looking at kind of like the really good ones. There are there are one or two more, which we'rere we're saving for future Christmases. My light keeps...
00:57:00
Speaker
that Is that doing that? I'm not doing that on purpose. Is it changing? Or am I imagining that? It's changing little bit. It's Krampus getting warmed Yeah, he's getting involved. Yeah, so, and yeah, it's one of the films that I don't know why we didn't get to review on the site as with all these other films. How? How? How did it come out and we didn't review it? So it's high time and we're going to be, Alex, we're going to be, what, Christmas jumpers? We're going to be jumpers all the way We're going to Yep. Everything. We'll be doing all. light the fire.
00:57:32
Speaker
Ho, ho, hoing up. A couple of locks on fire. A bit of eggnog. Definitely. That sort of stuff. Definitely. It'd be great. It will be a festive episode. It will. It will. We ask everyone else who listens in to do the same.
00:57:46
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. So that's 2015's Krampus. That's what we were doing in next. So, yeah. So thank you for joining us. um And, you know, thank you for loving horror as much as we do. ah Listen to some other episodes. Give us some feedback. Reach out. Suggest some films.
00:58:03
Speaker
You know, that's what we'd like. any Any final words? Tom? See you next time. see you next time. I'm your number one fan. That's what I wanted to say, Tom. I'm your number one fan. Oh.
00:58:15
Speaker
okay I don't know where I live, do you? Yeah, I do know where you live. ah coming around with my sledgehammer for some hobbling. oh but The book type or the... Anyway, we're going on.
00:58:33
Speaker
No, we're really going to run over. See you later, everyone. Thank you for listening.