Misery

Misery (1990), directed by Rob Reiner, Shout! Factory 4k remaster, encoded in 10 bit HEVC with AAC sound, including 5.1 remaster, two commentary tracks, and English subtitles.

IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100157/

Video encoded in two-pass 12.0 Mbps x265 10bit with the veryslow preset for archive quality image. Audio encoded separately with Apple AAC for the highest-quality AAC sound available. Subtitles converted to VobSub and repositioned.

Note : Rob Reiner has had an odd career, ranging from comedy to, in this case, at least horror adjacent fare, and he also has the distinction of directing two of the better Stephen King film adaptations, this, and Stand By Me. As mentioned, this is only borderline horror, but it's still a pretty harrowing watch, and it all comes down to the two main characters. James Caan gets top billing, of course, but it's Kathy Bates, a fucking titan of acting, who really runs the show here, and she's magnificent, by turns ingratiating, pitiful, and full-on terrifying, so when that scene with the feet comes, you know she's capable of anything. No gore, mostly just two actors, and totally edge of your seat.

Paul Sheldon has has just finished his new book, his first after ending a long-running series of romance novels by killing off its main character, Misery Chastain. He hopes he can now focus on more "serious" projects, but while driving home to New York in a blizzard, he crashes his car, and a nurse named Annie Wilkes finds him and takes him home to care for him. Phone lines are down, they're in the middle of nowhere, and Annie's a fan of Sheldon's, so he lets her read his new manuscript, which she doesn't enjoy, and when she reads the last Misery novel and discovers Misery dies at the end, she's furious, deciding to hold him captive in her house, destroying his manuscript, and forcing him to write a new Misery book where he brings the character back to life. As the two engage in a psychological struggle, Annie turns out to be far more dangerous than she seems, and Paul might have to risk everything to escape.

This is a quite nice 4k remaster, very subtle but present grain, good contrast and color, sharp enough, although it must be said this is not a very visually interesting film in general. 5.1 track sounds good, both commentary tracks are worthwhile.

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