Editor Reviews:

Description:
?Heeeeere?s Johnny!? In a macabre masterpiece adapted from Stephen King?s novel, Jack Nicholson falls prey to forces haunting a snowbound mountain resort with a macabre history.

Amazon.com essential video:
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is less an adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling horror novel than a complete reimagining of it from the inside out. In King's book, the Overlook Hotel is a haunted place that takes possession of its off-season caretaker and provokes him to murderous rage against his wife and young son. Kubrick's movie is an existential Road Runner cartoon (his steadicam scurrying through the hotel's labyrinthine hallways), in which the cavernously empty spaces inside the Overlook mirror the emptiness in the soul of the blocked writer, who's settled in for a long winter's hibernation. As many have pointed out, King's protagonist goes mad, but Kubrick's Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is Looney Tunes from the moment we meet him--all arching eyebrows and mischievous grin. (Both Nicholson and Shelley Duvall reach new levels of hysteria in their performances, driven to extremes by the director's fanatical demands for take after take after take.) The Shining is terrifying--but not in the way fans of the novel might expect. When it was redone as a TV miniseries (reportedly because of King's dissatisfaction with the Kubrick film), the famous topiary-animal attack (which was deemed impossible to film in 1980) was there--but the deeper horror was lost. Kubrick's The Shining gets under your skin and chills your bones; it stays with you, inhabits you, haunts you. And there's no place to hide... --Jim Emerson

Amazon.com:
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is less an adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling horror novel than a complete reimagining of it from the inside out. In King's book, the Overlook Hotel is a haunted place that takes possession of its off-season caretaker and provokes him to murderous rage against his wife and young son. Kubrick's movie is an existential Road Runner cartoon (his steadicam scurrying through the hotel's labyrinthine hallways), in which the cavernously empty spaces inside the Overlook mirror the emptiness in the soul of the blocked writer, who's settled in for a long winter's hibernation. As many have pointed out, King's protagonist goes mad, but Kubrick's Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is Looney Tunes from the moment we meet him--all arching eyebrows and mischievous grin. (Both Nicholson and Shelley Duvall reach new levels of hysteria in their performances, driven to extremes by the director's fanatical demands for take after take after take.) The Shining is terrifying--but not in the way fans of the novel might expect. When it was redone as a TV miniseries (reportedly because of King's dissatisfaction with the Kubrick film), the famous topiary-animal attack (which was deemed impossible to film in 1980) was there--but the deeper horror was lost. Kubrick's The Shining gets under your skin and chills your bones; it stays with you, inhabits you, haunts you. And there's no place to hide... --Jim Emerson

Rating : - A Masterpiece of Terror.
I am quite pleased to say that The Shining not only lives up to it's reputation but even exceeded nearly all the horror films that have come out since. The Shining is chilling, it's a subtle movie, at least by today's standards, it is brilliant on levels Hollywood has seems to have forgotten.

The subtle special effects are never overdone, never desensitizing us by overstimulating the horror factor over and over again until all the scares blend together. The absolutely fantastic cinematography and camera direction. The grand low shots following Danny at his own eye level as he rides around the hotel builds the terror of our expectations and then often denying us what we expect resulting in even greater impact when something paranormal does appear. The increasingly claustrophobic and uncomfortable shots make us feel like we are just as trapped there as Wendy. Finally the chaos that surounds Jack as he goes more and more insane. All of these are perfect in their effectiveness.

Jack Nicholson's performance is flawless and and every bit as riveting as the cinematography, I can't imagine how they could have found anyone more perfect for the part. Danny Lloyd also does a terrific job, especially when his imaginary friend comes out to play. Shelley Duvall's acting on the other end was fine but did stick out as the weakest part of the movie, but it gets the job done.

Of course, all this wouldn't be worth a thing of the story hadn't been so well written, Steven King obviously providing great source material while Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson's adaptation bringing the novel alive in cinema. All of this a testament to Kubrick's skill as a director.

If you haven't seen it you really need to, if you have seen it maybe you should see it again and try to appreciate it on a completely different level, I promise it won't disappoint.