Overview
After hearing almost everyone praising this film and seeing a few clips online (“Here’s Johnny!” to be precise), I just had to see this film. This film seemed to have the reputation of one of the best horrors of all time and having just seen A Clockwork Orange, I was dying to see more of Stanley Kubrick’s work. If you read my review of IT, you’ll know I loved it so the fact this is also another Stephen King adaptation just got me even more excited to see this film so I grabbed it on Blu-ray at the closest opportunity and sat down to experience this film. And again with The Shining, I hadn’t read the book or knew how it had ended so I was going in completely fresh. Did it live up to the hype? Did it live up to my own personal hype? In simple terms, yes. Yes it did.
Nutshell
The Shining is the 1980 adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name and is directed by none other than Stanley Kubrick. It stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duval and Danny Lloyd with Stanley Kubrick also producing and writing the screenplay. It follows the story of Jack Torrance, a man who accepts the position of a winter caretaker at an isolated holiday lodge and to live there for 5 months with his family. The job seems to be perfect for the aspiring writer to get some peace and quiet but the quiet seems to start taking its toll on Jack as strange goings on around the hotel start affecting him and his family.
Plot
Now first of all, I can’t compare this to the book for the simple reason I haven’t read the book even though I do know there are some differences but for the purpose of this review, it will be solely on the film. And I love the plot of this film! On the surface it seems like your typical horror with some people trapped in a haunted hotel but once the plot starts to delve deeper into the history of the building and the characters, you will soon start to realise it’s much, much more. I don’t want to go into spoilers here but the build up and pacing of this film is literally perfect for the events that occur and Kubrick’s directing just makes it impossible to switch off the film or switch off from the film, you just want to know more and see more and hear more. The theme of isolation is the essential centre to this film and through the acting, set design and cinematography it is explored beautifully and the effects are displayed for us all to witness and enjoy.
Characters
Now the acting in this film is what is going to keep it together so how does it fare? Pretty damn fucking good! Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance is absolutely incredible and probably one of the best performances in any horror film EVER! His portrayal of this man, plagued with guilts of his past and then his slow descent into madness is utterly captivating. Shelley Duval is great as well, even though her character does come across as annoying, that is how the producers and Kubrick himself wanted her to play the character. It is a nice contrast to Nicholson as his character is almost tolerating his wife the entire time and helps with the progression of his madness. Then of course we have Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance, the child with mysterious abilities and for some reason talks to his finger (no spoilers). He is amazing in this! One of the best child performances I think I have ever seen. I watched the behind the scenes of this film and for every scene in the film, Kubrick would do about 60-80 takes to get all the actors into character to get them to do things that they necessarily wouldn’t have done. The tiredness of each actor would cause them to pull weird faces during their takes and deliver lines in different ways and when watching the film, you can see this clearly worked. It is genius directing with genius acting. Of course, the characterisation of these characters is greatly due to Stephen King’s novel but I can’t help but wonder, would these characters have been even half as good in the film without Nicholson, Duval and Lloyd?
Editing
The first praise I thought for this film when I was watching it is the insane score behind it. The music behind this film just adds to every scene, whether it’s a chase scene or Jack staring at himself in a mirror. The score successfully builds the tension and horror behind every scene to absolute perfection with the droning high pitched notes, almost as if we are in Jack’s head experiencing his madness. One of the reasons why this film is infamous amongst film critics and lovers is its pioneering use of the steadicam for those long tracking shots of Danny riding his tricycle through the hotel to get the low angle shots of him. Kubrick even went as far as bringing the creator of the steadicam onto the set to experiment the best uses of it. And it shows because the cinematography in this film is gloriously complex but simple with such an ease that only Kubrick could bring to a film. With that comes the sets, the intricate but bold details that help to make this hotel feel truly alive. It makes the hotel feel like another character within the film, it makes the film feel truly alive.
Overall
I adore this film, both as film lover and as a fan of Kubrick. Everything about it screams tension, horror but with a unique view. I do believe this is one of the finest horrors ever made, if not the finest. Kubrick has crafted a film that you immediately become engrossed in and never want to turn off.
Rating
10 out of 10
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