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Directed by: Stanley Kubrick Starring: Jack Nicholson... and that's really all you need to know. This was playing over Halloween, and I had it on in the background while I was playing games. Upon hearing Nicholson saying one of his memorable lines, I had to switch off the game and watch the rest of the movie, AGAIN. The Shining is one of the best horror films ever made. The story is about Jack, a regular guy with a regular family, just down on his luck and looking for work. Well he finds some work, as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. This hotel is drat near inaccessible during the winter, and requires someone to live there to take care of some of the details. Jack happily moves in with his family, eager to start on a new novel. Just the thought of living alone in a huge hotel for months on end is a creepy enough prospect for me. Add in random murders and supernatural occurences over the hotel's long past and you have an environment perfect for lunacy. And an actor who can play lunacy perfectly. Kubrick does an admirable job as director, with original stylized scenes such as blood cascading out of an elevator, and he's one of the first to use a creepy, wide eyed little girl as a device for terror. In the end, however, Kubrick and everyone else in the film takes a backseat to Jack, whose performance is just delicious and a pleasure to watch. He perfectly plays a man who goes from ordinary, everyday blue collar guy to slavering, manic killer with an axe. One of my most favorite aspects about this film is it doesn't rely on cheap scare tactics or expensive special effects to scare the poo poo out of you. It is more of a look into the mind of somebody who just, simply, loses it, and the fact that it is plausable makes it pack an even more powerful punch. There are many good lines in this movie, my personal favorite being, "Darling. Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just gonna bash your brains in! I'm gonna bash 'em right the gently caress in. Ha, ha!" In conclusion, if you haven't seen this flick yet and you're a fan of horror films, I would strongly recommend checking it out. An if you have seen it but it's been a while, see it again. 5.5 / 5 RATING: 5.5 PROS: Nicholson's performance, Kubrick's direction CONS: A few plot device changes from the book, but nothing to degrade the quality of the movie ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/ Mental Midget fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Nov 8, 2005 |
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Nov 8, 2005 04:17
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While the movie is great in it's own right, I would have enjoyed it much more if they had gone more into the shining itself the way they do in the book. 4.5/5
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Nov 9, 2005 04:15
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I never read the book, but Kubrick + Nicholson makes crappiness an absolute impossibility. This is one of the best atmospheric horror movies of all-time, for sure.
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Nov 9, 2005 05:10
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I would give this 5.5 if it were not for Shelley Duvall, who overacts so much towards the end of the film as to make her performance borderline comical when everyone else involved (especially ol' Jack) is firing on all cylinders. Everything else in the film is about as perfect as you can possibly have it for a horror film. Pure art. I give it 5, with a curse to Shelley Duvall for almost spoiling it in places. As I understand it, she wasn't very popular on set either.
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Nov 15, 2005 15:18
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I just watched this again last night for the first time in probably 5 years and i was floored. I always loved the movie because of it was scarey and nicolson is awesome in it but knowing what i know now about kubrick i enjoyed it a thousand times more. This is definetly one of kubricks most underrated films in my opinion. Probably because it was his first and only foray into horror. Whatever the case i couldnt believe how incredible some scenes looked. Like all kubrick movies this one doesnt look dated at all despite being 25+ years old. Some of the scenes that had me drooling on myself were Jack swinging the axe at the door, jack hobbling outside axe in hand into the blizzard, jack slamming on the inside of the storage room door, and of course jacks face sticking through the broken door. There are a ton more but i could spend all day listing them. I would give it a 5.5 if it wasnt for the mothers acting like someone said before. Shes god awful at the end running around with the knife. Rating: 5.0 Pros: Nicolsons best performance, incredible visuals thanks to kubrick, great story, geniuenly scarey Cons: Shelly Duvalls god awful acting
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Nov 17, 2005 00:13
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There is one law which I live by: Thou shalt have no gods before Kubrick. OK, there are a lot of other laws, too. But this is an important one. Now that I have freely admitted to being a Kubrick whore, you should probably disregard anything else I have to say. Good, we got rid of the light-weights. Listen, between you and me, this movie stands as the most creepy of all horror films. I can't, and won't try to explain why. You'll just have to trust me on this one. Get three down to a store and buy, beg, borrow or steal a copy and watch. Watch the elevator, watch the big wheel, watch the bath, watch the maze, watch the bunny. I loved the Duvall factor. I wonder how I would react in her shoes, husband behaving a little off, kid freaking out, Scat-man...well, I best not give too much away. Rating: 5 Pros: All the stuff between the first frame and the last. Cons: Yeah. Right. Cos the land of love and freedom,
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Nov 24, 2005 03:11
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Kubrick's attention to detail is remarkable, and I don't think any other director, including Peter Jackson, will ever surpass him. All, and I mean all, of the rooms and interior shots were constructed in a studio in England, and all of the rooms were pretty much separate from each other. But the detail is so perfect, and the editing so seamless, that it really does look like it was shot entirely in the interior of a vast luxury hotel. The outdoor shots were filmed halfway around the world. The cinematography is damned near perfect, and I don't think any movie has yet to surpass it. So varied, so diverse and colorful, and it really does get the chills across. I don't think I've ever seen a creepier atmosphere, nor seen an atmosphere so perfectly executed. 5/5
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Nov 25, 2005 22:15
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This is actually my favourite horror movie of all time. I don't know of any other good horror movies - The Exorcist doesn't come close to The Shining in my book. Everything about this movie is great. The casting could not have been better. I thought Shelley Duvalle's performance was incredible and believable (get it?). I dig the music the most - That is some freaky music. 5/5.
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Nov 25, 2005 23:54
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When I was a kid I saw this movie for the first time after having read the book (yeah, I was a weird kid.) Seeing the bathtub scene traumatized me for an extremely long time. To this day whenever I see that scene I remember how insanely terrorized of it I was. I remember a few years back they did a remake on NBC or CBS or something. They did it as a mini-series, 2 hours a night for 3 night I think, and that version followed the book version of the story much more closely. It is still no match for the original though. The Simpsons did a parody of this in a Halloween episode once too, which was also pretty good. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Nov 26, 2005 06:14
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If you're complaining about Duvall's performance, then you've missed the point and maybe should read up a little on it. 5.5 (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Nov 27, 2005 08:11
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I constantly shuffle about when trying to name my favorite Kubrick film, because they're all so drat good, but I often wind up saying The Shining, probably because it's like a "best of" for Kubrick. Absolutely everything about the film is top-notch quality. Defenitely an underlooked "Kubrick" film, which is too bad. Also, contrary to what many people think, Duvall did an excellent job. Her depiction of a breakdown in response to an overwhelming situation is chillingly accurate. A masterpiece among masterpieces. 5/5
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Mar 21, 2008 01:36
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I watched this again recently, and like all of Kubrick's other movies (including EWS, so sue me), it gets better and better each time I watch it. The fluid movement of the steadicam through the hallways is a beautiful and appropriate throwback to his days of adoring Max Ophuls, and contributes to the mood immensely. Jack Nicholson is brilliant in this, of course, but I think he's never quite this good in any other role, mainly because he never had a director expect as much out of him as Kubrick did. And he met those expectations marvelously. Duvall is a one-trick pony, but performs her one trick admirably. 5/5
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Mar 27, 2008 07:51
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Every time I watch this film, I pick up on some other creepy nuance I never noticed before. The camerawork by itself is more unsettling than 99% of horror films out there. Just this week I saw a link to collativelearning.com's analysis of apparent architectural inconsistencies hidden throughout the Overlook Hotel set, and how they create subliminal unease. I guess Ager is kind of a conspiracy theorist, but he uses clips from the actual movie to make his points here and they look convincing to me. Here's an interesting article that frames it a little, and embeds the two videos - http://www.examiner.com/film-in-pittsburgh/classic-film-commentary-the-shining I think it looks pretty legit, and now I'm dying to rewatch this film right away. Definitely a 5/5. An unparalleled masterpiece. Neo_Reloaded fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Jul 27, 2011 |
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Jul 26, 2011 23:59
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Of all the things that get under my skin, the thing that does it the most for me in the Shining is that haunting soundtrack. I can't even add it to my movie soundtrack playlist because it makes me feel uncomfortable hearing it. The muffled dischord really does sound like someone uncomfortably close to you becoming unhinged, or evil spirits clawing at someone's brain trying to make them go mad. By far my favorite part in the film is Danny running from his dad in the maze and then beating him with Grimm Fairy Tale hero cleverness. Both Danny and his mom for all their fear and vulnerability turn out to be resourceful and beat evil with cleverness and never giving up hope for survival. Hell, Danny's mom is thoroughly traumatized and abused throughout the film - yet she turns out to be strong enough to face everything from Jack to the lovecraftian horrors of the manor, and stay focused enough to escape. I guess you could say that that was the real 'shining' gift that Danny and his mom had. Which is why the evil in the overlook wanted to kill them so badly, using Jack as a pawn. In a weird way the film has a positive message about never giving up hope. 5/5 Spacedad fucked around with this message at 09:54 on Aug 22, 2011 |
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Aug 22, 2011 09:51
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This movie didn't give me a sense of anxiety like, say, 1408 did. However, I did not care. This movie is a delight to the senses, the atmosphere, the impossible house, the acting, the everything in this movie. This movie is so good, so little flaws in it, if any. This movie is just so good. 5/5
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Dec 27, 2019 17:51
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