A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. It is an unforgettable, chilling, majestic and truly, profoundly scary film crafted by an eccentric genius who wants to show that the impossible can be done. And it's Grady who's probably the most chilling presence in the film. The film is an adaptation of Stepehen King's original novel, written in the late '70s, and although the film is not very loyal to the book, it still stands as a thing of its own. The Shining is a truly frightening movie that works symbolically on many levels, but is basically about human shortcomings and the way they can be exploited by unconscious forces combined with weakness of will. I love the way that he turns the Room 237 scene, one that could have been a standard 'jump' scene, into a comment on Jack's marriage his willingness to be unfaithful.
The words are just empty platitudes. All in all, this movie captures your attention with its grand form and vision, ropes you in with some terror and eccentric direction, and ties you down and stabs you in the heart with its cold-eyed view of the man's mind gone overboard, creepy atmosphere and the loss of humanity. Jack's true feelings are only revealed when he gets to talk to Lloyd. One of the scariest things for people to face is the unknown and this film presents its plotting with just that thought in mind. Jack, being a family man, takes his wife Shelley Duvall and son Danny Lloyd to the hotel to keep him company throughout the long, isolated nights. It gets under your skin.
This movie cuts through all the typical horror movies like a red-poker through a human eye, as it allows the viewer to not only feel the violence and psychosis of its protagonist, but appreciate the seed from which the derangement stems. The poor man is married to a bug-eyed, bucktoothed Olive Oil look-a-like. It's kind of like he's testing his family. The quietness of the moment is a character in itself, as the fermenting aggressor in Jack Torrance's mind wallows in this idle time, and breeds the devil's new playground. Undoubtedly, The Shining is full of memorable moments the elevator scene or the 'Heeeeeere's Johnny' one-liner for instance and, simply put, it's flawlessly brilliant. This movie just scared the life out of me, which is what still happens every time I rent the video for a re-watch. I mean, as much as I like Jack in the film, he does chew the scenery.
Every single shot is masterfully created and there are some genuinely scary scenes which will make you sit on the edge of your seat. The Shining is, in my opinion, a special landmark in horror cinema which will always be regarded as one of the scariest movies in film history. I think he understood it only too well. Also rather unsettling is the scene where Jack talks to his son. However, both Jackson and Burton's names were still listed in the opening credits despite them no longer appearing in the film. It's a horror story even for people who don't like horror stories - maybe especially for them. I love his command of lighting just look at The Gold Room scenes.
Since I saw it last year, when I was 13, I have rarely been able to have a bath in my bathtub. The quietness of the moment is a character in itself, as the fermenting aggressor in Jack Torrance's mind wallows in this idle time, and breeds the devil's new playground. There are moments of sheer brilliance and exquisite perfection in this film; the horrifying maze chase is a perfect example. You don't get people here jumping out of the dark time after time. Frightening because of the extraordinarily effective use of long shots to create feelings of isolation, convex lens shots to enhance surrealism, and meticulously scored music to bring tension levels to virtually unbearable levels. .
This film is a perfect example of this very thought. To say nothing of the rest of the cast. She is not concerned with glamour, nor does she clutter her performance with typical acting chops, but rather she is solely focussed on hitting the emotional highpoints of her character as 'Wendy' gradually comes to realize that her husband is a madman. In other words, it isn't for Pavlovian dogs that have spent a lifetime being conditioned by cretinous nonsense. And undoubtedly it's Kubrick's movie.
I thought that the runtime of the film could've been cut by a little bit, but then again, I am not one of the most acclaimed directors in the history of film, so maybe I should keep my two-cent criticisms over a superb film, to myself. Cast: , , , , , , , Director: Genres: , Production Co: Producers Circle, Peregrine, Warner Brothers, Hawk Films Distributors: Warner Bros. He knew that it was a genre full of conventions, cheap tricks and tired cliches. Some time after settling in, the family is trapped in the hotel by a snowstorm, and Jack gradually becomes influenced by a supernatural presence, descends into madness, and ultimately attempts to murder his wife and son. It's in this scene that you realise the marriage isn't all it's cracked up to be Wendy has never forgiven him for accidentally hurting his son.
It works so well because it's so cold and because there's such an obvious lack of affection. The film, unlike many horror-oriented films nowadays, doesn't only rely on stomach-churning and gory images which it does contain, anyway but on the incredibly scary music based on the works of Bela Bartok and on the excellent cinematography the Steadicam is superbly used, giving us a sense of ever-following evil , as well. That's what I thought, so what did you expect? It does not seem like acting at all. According to him, Kubrick didn't understand the horror genre. As he's driving to the hotel, he's bothered by requests for food. The plot is simple: Jack Torrance Jack Nicholson becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in up in the secluded mountains of Colorado.
Already he's slightly irked - he's got to spend months alone with these people; one who resembles Popeye's missus and one who talks to his finger. It is a film that, over the course of the years, has managed to scare the living hell out of its audiences and still does. I can't praise this film long enough! I always felt like the presence of evil was dormant in all of our minds, with only the circumstances of the moment, and the reasons given therein, needed to wake its violent ass and pounce over its unsuspecting victims. The twins are spooky, Lloyd is amiable and Grady is out of his mind. With it, a person can find solace in mindless programming and retreat from the strictures of family life. And Philip Stone's performance is a million times more subtle than Nicholson's. The Shining is a sublime, hauntingly intriguing and endlessly watchable film that shows Kubrick at his best.
Many of us speak 'on the nose', and do not try to convey subtext through use of carefully chosen words that articulate our state of being without being direct. As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorizing his family. Just the way he says 'corrected' conveys more terror than a million slasher films. And I love this matter of fact way of dealing with the supernatural. Storyline: Signing a contract, Jack Torrance, a normal writer and former teacher agrees to take care of a hotel which has a long, violent past that puts everyone in the hotel in a nervous situation.