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The Shining is an absolute masterpiece from Stanley Kubrick. This is the phenomenon of horror films. I loved pretty much everything about this film. The Shining is a scary, haunting and psychological film that makes me feel really good which is very rare of a horror film. That is one of the main reasons why The Shining is the greatest horror film of all time. It is like a fantasy film when you look at it in a deeper way because of the visions within Jack's mind and Danny's as well. It was scary but not scary enough for it to freak me out. It wasn't so much the characters but it was the music that did it for me. It is scary because it is a massive hotel which is beautiful, clean and peaceful. What I find really twisted about this is that its a nice hotel in the countryside but unfortunately it is possessed and the Torrance family are the unlucky ones. They are torn apart by the hotel through Jack. This teaches about a lot of things in life particularly wherever you are it is never 100% certain that you are safe. It was a very clever horror film not just because it is a piece of work from the late Stanley Kubrick, not just because it stars Jack Nicholson and that it's a novel from my favourite novelist Stephen King but because of the cinematic qualities it has and how well it was filmed.
Jack Nicholson delivers one of the most terrifying performances I've ever seen. Jack has always been one of those actors who plays really entertaining characters both heroes and villains. When he is Jack Torrance he shows how scary he really can be. I get an impression that people underestimated Nicholson as a villain before The Shining. I think Jack's performance leads to his role as the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman because of the real psychological side of seeing Nicholson as a complete psycho. I really liked Jack's determination to this film because he made the acting decent to watch especially because Shelley Duvall was pretty bad as Wendy Torrance. There are quite a few reasons for this. I don't think she took Wendy's character which is what should be done in a film particularly from a director like Stanley Kubrick I also realise that Wendy is an innocent woman who's husband is going mad and her son is wrapped up in his own world as well, so she is suffering from this but what annoyed me about Shelley was that she always pulled the same face when upset, she was constantly wailing and wasn't even crying. I also think that she didn't quite say her words in a correct way of professional acting. Even director Kubrick said that her performance was dreadful. I saw this on a documentary called "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures " on Kubrick's work. He stated to Shelley Duvall during filming of The Shining: "You've got to sound serious, Shelley, or else you re just wasting everyone's f***ing time". Kubrick was right about that though. But I will Shelley credit for how scary she looks when freaked out so that's where her acting was decent. I liked Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance as well. Because of him being a child star in a horror film, I find it a close similarity to Linda Blair as possessed girl in The Exorcist.
I cannot believe that Kubrick earned a Razzie nomination as Worst Director. I think he directed it pretty well with camera angles especially the "Here's Johnny!" scene. He just did what he does best and that is that he directs his films in his own way. Directs them very similarly as zooming out/in camera angles. He directed Jack Nicholson's actions well but I admit he didn't do very well with Shelley Duvall's which could have been improved. I have always admired King's work but I think that this film is the closest film to its book. The script was half original-half adapted because most horrors are original but The Shining is like an epic horror film which makes it the first and only of that kind. Epics are films that are written into adapted scripts.
The Shining is a haunting and epic masterpiece. It is one of Jack Nicholsons best and one of Kubricks best as well. It is one of the most iconic horrors of all time if not the most iconic. I think that this film is almost perfect (apart from Shelley Duvall) which is why The Shining is the greatest horror film of all time.
10/10
