Misery (1990)

Annie Wilkes keeps a pet pig named Misery, and that should have been Paul’s first clue. Kathy Bates does the scariest thing possible: she makes you like Annie for a while. She spoons him soup, calls herself his number one fan, then reads something in his new manuscript she doesn’t approve of, and her whole face changes. James Caan has the harder job, pinned to a bed for most of 107 minutes and acting with his eyes, a typewriter and a bobby pin. The weak spot is the sheriff. Richard Farnsworth is lovely as Buster, but every trip away from that farmhouse to follow his slow investigation lets the pressure leak out like heat through an open door. The scene everyone remembers still makes whole living rooms wince at once. It made $61.3 million worldwide on a reported $18 to $20 million. An 8.6 because Bates turns a fan letter into a horror movie, and only the detours sag. $986.41 says you think twice before telling your favorite author you’re their biggest fan.

What works: Kathy Bates makes Annie warm, needy and terrifying in the same breath, and James Caan plays pure fear with almost no room to move.

What doesn’t: The sheriff’s investigation keeps pulling the movie out of the farmhouse, and each trip away lets the pressure drop.

Who it’s for: Anyone who likes thrillers where the danger is a polite person with a spare room, not a monster.