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THE SHINING (1980)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson, based on the novel by Stephen King
Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers
This film is one of the acknowledged classics of modern horror, and was named the scariest film ever made in a television poll conducted a couple of years ago. The film tells the story of Jack Torrance (Nicholson) who accepts a job as the winter caretaker of the palatial Overlook Hotel in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Torrance is looking forward to "five months of peace" to work on a writing project and, despite being told the story of an earlier caretaker who went mad and killed his wife and two daughters with an axe before shooting himself in the head, he moves up with his wife Wendy (Duvall) and young son Danny (Lloyd). Dick Halloran (Crothers), the Overlook's cook, immediately recognises that he and Danny share a special talent which Halloran calls "the shining", basically a mix of telepathy and precognition. Danny has already had scary visions about the Overlook and was reluctant to go. As time passes, the Overlook becomes completely cut off from the outside world because of heavy snowfall. However it's not long before Wendy and Danny start to notice disturbing changes in Jack's behaviour, as he becomes aware of the sinister forces which inhabit the Overlook.
The idea for The Shining came to Stephen King when he was employed as a winter caretaker in a hotel and moved in there with his family and his young son slipped in a bathtub and hurt his head. Although the child wasn't injured, the incident got King thinking about what would have happened if the accident was more serious and took place later on when the hotel was completely cut off. The title comes from the line "We all shine on" from the John Lennon song "Instant Karma". The film bears little resemblance to the novel (King himself was famously unhappy with the film, believing that Kubrick had downplayed the supernatural elements too much). The shooting of the film was long and difficult, Kubrick was quite harsh and unpleasant towards Shelley Duvall during the filming to make her give a more fraught and miserable perfomance (Kubrick once told the crew "don't try to be nice to Shelley, it doesn't help her"), while Jack Nicholson was forced to eat endless cheese sandwiches (which he loathes) to help him create a sense of "inner revulsion", while Scatman Crothers grew so frustrated at Kubrick's habit of doing repeated takes of each scene (he once had to do 127 takes of one scene) that he burst into tears screaming: "What do you want, Mr. Kubrick?" The resulting film is stunning though, making good use of the recently developed Steadicam camera, which is basically a camera mounted on a rig which the operator wears and enables very smooth camera movements, from a variety of heights without the jerky quality of hand-held cameras. For the most part the film moves at quite a sedate pace, which makes the sudden shock moments even more effective. The film is full of memorable moments, and while it may not be the scariest film ever made is still one of the classics of the horror film. Stephen King remade The Shining as a rubbish television mini-series in 1997, directed by Mick Garris.
Ten out of ten.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson, based on the novel by Stephen King
Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers
This film is one of the acknowledged classics of modern horror, and was named the scariest film ever made in a television poll conducted a couple of years ago. The film tells the story of Jack Torrance (Nicholson) who accepts a job as the winter caretaker of the palatial Overlook Hotel in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Torrance is looking forward to "five months of peace" to work on a writing project and, despite being told the story of an earlier caretaker who went mad and killed his wife and two daughters with an axe before shooting himself in the head, he moves up with his wife Wendy (Duvall) and young son Danny (Lloyd). Dick Halloran (Crothers), the Overlook's cook, immediately recognises that he and Danny share a special talent which Halloran calls "the shining", basically a mix of telepathy and precognition. Danny has already had scary visions about the Overlook and was reluctant to go. As time passes, the Overlook becomes completely cut off from the outside world because of heavy snowfall. However it's not long before Wendy and Danny start to notice disturbing changes in Jack's behaviour, as he becomes aware of the sinister forces which inhabit the Overlook.
The idea for The Shining came to Stephen King when he was employed as a winter caretaker in a hotel and moved in there with his family and his young son slipped in a bathtub and hurt his head. Although the child wasn't injured, the incident got King thinking about what would have happened if the accident was more serious and took place later on when the hotel was completely cut off. The title comes from the line "We all shine on" from the John Lennon song "Instant Karma". The film bears little resemblance to the novel (King himself was famously unhappy with the film, believing that Kubrick had downplayed the supernatural elements too much). The shooting of the film was long and difficult, Kubrick was quite harsh and unpleasant towards Shelley Duvall during the filming to make her give a more fraught and miserable perfomance (Kubrick once told the crew "don't try to be nice to Shelley, it doesn't help her"), while Jack Nicholson was forced to eat endless cheese sandwiches (which he loathes) to help him create a sense of "inner revulsion", while Scatman Crothers grew so frustrated at Kubrick's habit of doing repeated takes of each scene (he once had to do 127 takes of one scene) that he burst into tears screaming: "What do you want, Mr. Kubrick?" The resulting film is stunning though, making good use of the recently developed Steadicam camera, which is basically a camera mounted on a rig which the operator wears and enables very smooth camera movements, from a variety of heights without the jerky quality of hand-held cameras. For the most part the film moves at quite a sedate pace, which makes the sudden shock moments even more effective. The film is full of memorable moments, and while it may not be the scariest film ever made is still one of the classics of the horror film. Stephen King remade The Shining as a rubbish television mini-series in 1997, directed by Mick Garris.
Ten out of ten.