Overtaken by slippery curves and low visibility, his car swerves off the road and flips over an embankment. Packing his untitled story carefully inside his trusty leather bag, Paul begins the journey home in his 1965 Ford Mustang just as a blizzard approaches. He's been staying at a remote cabin nestled in a wintry landscape, a long-standing tradition when he's ready to finish a book. Our story opens on a low-key but celebratory note Paul has just completed his latest novel, relaxing with a hard-earned cigarette and a bottle of Dom Perignon. The protagonist in question, Paul Sheldon (played by James Caan), maintains one of King's favorite themes: he's a writer in peril.
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As he would soon learn, Reiner certainly had plenty in common with the protagonist of Misery: though never terrorized by a sledgehammer-wielding psychopath, he was indeed a creative mind who longed to branch out in new directions.
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The director certainly didn't seem like the obvious candidate on paper, having cut his teeth on films like This Is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride several years earlier, but it was Reiner's Stand By Me (adapted from a King short story) that first caught the author's eye in 1986. Many fans of the celebrated author regard Misery as one of King's most engaging novels, so it's no surprise that Rob Reiner's gripping adaptation does it visceral justice. It's obviously horror season on DVD, as this is the third Stephen King title I've reviewed in just over a week-and fittingly enough, the best has been saved for last.