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THRILL SCALE 1-10
10
HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?
Yes, several times, although I don't think I've rewatched it recently. Probably not within the last ten years
BEST SEQUENCE
There are so many good options to choose from, especially the scenes that introduced unforgettable images, like Danny and the Grady sisters in the hallway or the blood pouring out of the elevator. I'm going to go with Jack's investigation of Room 237 after Danny is attacked, though. It's maybe the scariest part of the movie for me, and I like the juxtaposition of titillation and horror. The shot of Shelley Duvall screaming as Jack hacks through the bathroom door is also incredibly effective
BEST LINE
Again, lots of good options, but I can't deny "Heeere's Johnny!" Honourable mentions to "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" and the way Jack says "Wendy, darling, light of my life"
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE
84%
ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS
"Though it deviates from Stephen King's novel, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is a chilling, often baroque journey into madness -- exemplified by an unforgettable turn from Jack Nicholson."
IMDB SYNOPSIS
"A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter, where a sinister presence influences the father into violence. At the same time, his psychic son sees horrifying forebodings from both the past and the future."
DIRECTOR
Stanley Kubrick
MAIN CAST
Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
THOUGHTS
- I've mentioned before that Stephen King is my favourite author, and The Shining is one of his best books, so let's discuss this right off the bat: King doesn't like this movie, or, at least, he doesn't think it's a good adaptation of his novel. And honestly, I completely understand his point of view. The book is about a decent man, a loving father and husband, who is fighting his own alcoholism and violent impulses and who is basically possessed by the hotel and made to lose that battle. This is perhaps also due to the length of the book compared to the length of a movie, but Jack's descent into madness is much more gradual in the book, and the movie loses some of that suspense and nuance. Crucially, in the book we also get several early scenes of Jack enjoying his time at the Overlook, and the quality time he spends with Danny and Wendy
- That last point, in particular, we really don't get in the movie. Jack Nicholson's movie Jack is a pretty unstable asshole right from the beginning, and there aren't any scenes that I can think of of him being a loving father and husband. Despite all the supernatural happenings in the movie, it comes across less as a story of a man being possessed by a haunted hotel, and more a tale of an already dangerous man hitting his breaking point thanks to cabin fever
- That's enough comparing between book and movie, though, because even though I think the book is excellent and terrifying, the movie is too, in slightly different ways, and it contains scenes and moments and images that I will simply never forget
- It's a total cliche to say that a movie's setting is its own character, but I think this is the best example of that. This movie simply wouldn't be this movie if the Overlook Hotel wasn't so singularly memorable, and crucial to the movie's effectiveness. The massive, imposing exterior, the long, slightly cramped hallways that Danny trikes through, the huge, empty lounge where Jack writes, they're all integral to the movie's impact
- Nicholson doesn't hold back, he chews up the scenery with gusto, but he's pretty convincing and terrifying. Danny Lloyd, as Danny, is also quite good for a child actor. Supposedly Kubrick managed to hide the really scary stuff from Lloyd, who didn't even know he was in a horror movie
- Now, I had always heard that Kubrick was awful to Shelley Duvall while making The Shining. And this is not meant to question anyone's personal experiences, but this may have been less verifiably true than I thought, with even Duvall having varying emotions about her time working with Kubrick. It does seem like it was an exhausting, emotionally draining experience, though, and that definitely comes across in multiple scenes, including the aforementioned sequence of Jack chopping through the bathroom door, or of him pursuing her up the flight of stairs
- Finally, I said something similar five summers ago when I reviewed The Thing (and holy shit, that was five summers ago?!): if you, like me, are experiencing a heatwave currently, The Shining is a pretty damn cold movie. Just imagine that you're Jack, limping through the snowy hedge maze, eventually freezing to death, as a surefire way to beat those summertime blues
Up next: Stephen King adaptations have appeared multiple times on both the official AFI list and the Readers' Choice list, but The Shining is his last appearance. I'm not quite ready to say goodbye yet, though, so we'll have one last Stephen King movie, and it's one of my favourites. From 1990, it's Misery (and it's also a pretty cold movie, come to think of it)
