As the only film adaptation of the Stephen King oeuvre to be anointed with Oscar gold, Rob Reiner’s Misery (1990) is quintessential psychological horror with a heaping helping of shock and awe. Fueled by a villain whose name is virtually synonymous with toxic fan culture and made memorable by one indelible sledgehammer hobbling, the film is […]
AD Fredline Ever since the nation’s founding, the monster’s form in American horror cinema has chronicled American history, reflecting both our greatest fears and our greatest inhibitions, as suggested in W. Scott Poole’s Monsters in America (2014). While the purpose of monsters in horror cinema is most clearly to thrill and terrify, these creatures also […]
Beth Kattelman Kathy Bates’s compelling performance as Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner’s Misery solidified her reputation as a great actress and earned her an Oscar. Her frightening portrayal fixed the image of the “number one fan” in the minds of viewers and ensured that filmgoers would never look at a sledgehammer in the same way […]
Melody Blackmore “the horror film stages and re-stages a constant repudiation of the maternal figure” – Barbara Creed[i] Rob Reiner’s film adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel Misery sees an obsessed violent woman terrorize a harmless man, yet this tale is not all that it seems, with a non-traditional female role played by Kathy […]
Phil Hobbins-White Rob Reiner’s big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s novel (1987) was released in 1990, blending conventions from the psychological thriller and horror genre, as well as utilising other elements which became common in horror films later in the decade. What follows here will be an exploration of the landscape of cinema in the years […]