All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!
The Shining (1980)
Created By: Stanley Kubrick
The Prologue
The Shining was Stanley Kubrick’s one and only dip into the horror genre. For this film he adapted a Stephen King book to the screen and he’d cast another legend, Jack Nicholson in the leading role. Perhaps more so than others, this was the film that cemented the legend of Kubrick being a little hard to work with. He’d go on to deeply upset Shelley Duvall on set with his take after take after take of a scene. He’d call both Jack Nicholson and Stephen King up in the middle of the night and ask some very odd questions. But when you are making a movie that shows us one man’s decent into madness, isn’t that behavior appropriate?
The Movie
A man, his son and wife become the winter caretakers of an isolated hotel where Danny, the son, sees disturbing visions of the hotel’s past using a telepathic gift known as “The Shining”. The father, Jack Torrance, is underway in a writing project when he slowly slips into insanity as a result of cabin fever and former guests of the hotel’s ghosts. After being convinced by a waiter’s ghost to “correct” the family, Jack goes completely insane. The only thing that can save Danny and his mother is “The Shining”.
There is an uneasy feeling that just swarms the overall presentation of The Shining. And as it has been proven as of late, if you feel a little sick while watching the film it’s 100% intentional. Mixed in with the haunting story of a man flipping his wig, is set that was actually designed in a manner to mess with the audience’s mind a bit. This was fact that wasn’t really known until ABC news did a story about it late last year. I find it as just another cool element that went into the making of this film. A film that many of you voted for back when we did the Top 10 Horror Films of the 80s voting a couple years back.
At the center of this film that packs scenes of spooky twins, grotesque women coming out of a tub, and a boy who has “the shine”, is Jack Nicholson. Jack is notably overacting some of the scenes in the film, perhaps even 90% of his on screen time. But it doesn’t hurt things at all, it works. The story behind that is the fact that Stanley Kubrick was a big fan of James Cagney and that is one reason he wanted an over the top Nickolson. In the role of, Jack Torrance, Jack would go on to create one of the most memorable characters ever on film. We watch as he works on his book, we watch as he talks to people that may not really be there, and we watch and wiggle in our chairs as he puts an ax through a door. A scene that would have to be among the list of all-time greatest scenes ever shot.
As the film goes on into it’s ending, you can’t help but notice it is a film that takes it’s time. The build can be slow, but it’s like heating water. You put it on and you wait as it starts to slowly boil, and that’s what happens here. By the time the story reaches it’s boiling point, it’s a nail biter and a very exciting climax to a very well crafted and acted film. It also leaves us with yet another iconic image to end the film. If you want to see a well made horror film, The Shining is a well made horror film. And while it’s slow, it’s nothing but pure class from start to finish. It doesn’t have a lot of gore. I doesn’t pack a man in a mask running around either. But it does give us all the essentials a horror film should have.
The Conclusion
Upon it’s release, Stephen King wasn’t too pleased with the ending results of this film. And he’d even go on to make his own version of The Shining. But this one here, is a film you’d be hard pressed to find anything wrong with. As far as the blu-ray transfer of this goes, it’s a very vivid looking film. I think most fans of blu-ray will be well pleased with the definition and detail of this great movie.
The Rating (8/10)
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