1980 Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
Jack Nicholson Shelley Duvall Danny Lloyd Scatman Crothers Barry Nelson Philip Stone Joe Turkel Anne Jackson Tony Burton Barry Dennen Lia Beldam Billie Gibson David Baxt Manning Redwood Lisa Burns Louise Burns Robin Pappas Alison Coleridge Burnell Tucker Jana Shelden Kate Phelps Norman Gay Paul Desbois Vivian Kubrick Derek Lyons Aileen Lewis Chris Parsons
After having over a meter (3 feet for my fellow Americans) of snow fall on us in just a few days, the isolated and trapped feeling gave us great cause to want to watch the ultimate cabin fever-in the depth of winter film. Regardless of how many times one has seen The Shining, it never loses that overwhelming sense of dread.
As soon as Jack Torrance is in frame, that uneasy feeling takes over. I feel as though I wish I could warn all of the other characters in the movie to walk on eggshells, don't upset him! Maybe you shouldn't talk to him right now! Can't you see it! Just leave him alone! There has never been another character…
Jack, Wendy, and Danny spending the winter at the Overlook Hotel. The interview. Fuckin' Tony. Cabin fuckin' Fever. Blood. Closing day. High elevation. Cannibals. Darts. Twins. The Gold Room. Fuckin' Dick. Danny loves Ketchup. TANG. The Shine. Fuck you Room 237! Power fuckin' Wheels. A typewriter. Wall ball. Mini-maze. Jack the Grouch. Jack's sweater. High-tech audio equipment. O-VER. The way Danny closes his eyes. Mickey Mouse. Awesome fuckin' carpet. Losing your fuckin' mind. Jack's fuckin' eyes. Jack's fuckin' laugh. Lloyd's wise words. A confession. Foxy paintings. Tits in the water. Fuck you mirror! Olive fuckin' Oyl. Jeeves. Red, Red, Rum. The trance. A jet plane. Rocky's corner man. Road Runner. Louisville Slugger. Dull fuckin' Jack. Stairs. Trapped. Snow. A big-ass…
What defines the greatest horror film of all time? Is it the film that most unsettles and terrifies you? Is it the film that rewards repeat viewings, never diluting the film’s impact no matter how many times you watch it? Or is it the film so expertly crafted whether it be the tight plotting, career defining performances or flawless direction, that it comes close to perfection? Whatever way you define greatness The Shining inevitably comes out on top.
I have vivid memories of watching Kubrick’s masterpiece for the first time. Like all the best horror experiences I was far too young to really watch it, and despite hearing stories about it in the playground, nothing can really prepare you for…
Part of Hoop-Tober
“I’m sorry to differ with you sir, but you are the caretaker. You’ve always been the caretaker. I should know, sir—I’ve always been here.”
Solitude has a way of driving a man mad. The uninterrupted stream of one’s thoughts, the isolated expanses that double as metaphoric existential crises, the insipid sameness of the day to day. Hence the age-old proverb in favor of building bridges rather than walls. It is a trite observation, one as old as time but no less valid for its prevalence. From the demoniac bellowing in the hills until Jesus relieved him of his burden (and doomed some poor swine) to Miss Havisham moldering in her wedding dress to Alfred Packer and his…
I think that The Shining is, outside of one of its major plot points, a pretty good name for this film. It's a shining example of why no filmmaker should feel obliged to as closely mirror a book as possible when doing an adaptation.
When Stanley Kubrick released The Shining, Stephen King famously decried it, saying that it hardly resembled his novel at all. Quite often since then people have suggested that King simply does not understand cinema, an opinion that is hardly helped by his one directorial foray (Maximum Overdrive, which I love despite its utter incompetence) and his endorsement of the ridiculous ending tacked on to the adaptation of The Mist.
But maybe, just maybe, he saw something…
I never fully realized before just how deeply pathetic Jack Torrance is, and how much more effective that makes the story.
Okay okay, here's the thing.
Kubrick is a master of cinematography and working with actors, but not (in this film) of story and certainly not of character. I felt that at any moment, any of the characters except Wendy could have done anything and I would have accepted it. They never do anything out of character because nothing feels like it's in character. The cinematography does help elevate emotions and the score is great, but I felt like I couldn't feel any emotions because a bunch of violins were screaming in my ears. Also the editing is atrocious, cutting from scary to mundane moments making some of the scary moments laughable. As wellade as certain aspects are, this film didn't feel entertaining and I didn't feel invested. Instead, it felt like a chore to watch just so I could say that I'd seen it.
The best horror movie ever made and will forever continue to be so unless Kubrick is reborn into an upgraded version of himself.
What can be said that hasn't already been said a hundred times already? This is truly one of the greatest horror films of all time, and perhaps one of the best movies in general.
The cinematography is brilliant, and a visual treat. The film is eerie and creepy throughout, and the dialogue is outstanding. Some people may decry the film as being very slow and boring, and in a sense I don't think they're wrong. The Shining is the sort of film I feel one has to look back on as a whole picture, rather than assess from moment to moment. When you look back on this film, as if looking over an entire painted picture, you see a beautiful work of art.
I read the novel by Stephen King multiple times and fell in love with it. I watched this adaptation for the first time over this past summer right after rereading the novel, and I strongly disliked this movie. Now, I have reread the book yet again, this time for my college English course on American Gothic literature. We analyzed it, and we just watched the movie to compare.
Now I hate this movie even more.
It's just so, so, SO inferior to King's book in almost every way. The one thing I liked more in the movie than in the book was Shelley Duvall's performance as Wendy, and that's literally it. The scares aren't as well done, the dialogue isn't…
I mean what can I say about this movie that hasn’t already been said a thousand times? I have only one question: Why is a Colorado hotel closed in the winter? Does this movie take place in an alternate universe where winter sports don’t exist? Food for thought.
Dave Vis 250 films
The Letterboxd Top 250 movies, based on the average weighted rating of all Letterboxd users. I chose to remove all…
MasterLundegaard 155 films
-MAXIMUM OF FIVE VOTES-
a community vote in which, hopefully, we can all construct a list of movies for letterboxd…
Peter Stanley 1,210 films
All the films from all the editions, including those subsequently removed, presently totalling 1210. An easy way of seeing how…
