From: 10713166@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au (ROHAN TREGEAR)
Subject: Another whinge about King movies
Organization: Faculty of Engineering, Monash University 
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 02:30:34 GMT

	
	Okay. Someone here said that they thought THE SHINING was the best 
film of a Stephen King novel. Don't get me wrong, I *liked* the movie, but I 
had a few problems with it. For a start, what was the story with the kid, 
Danny, putting on the stupid voice and flexing his index finger to represent 
his "special" friend Tony. Surely even the most lame special fx would have 
come across better than that. All they needed to do was to create the 
feeling of shadowy figure whispering in the kid's ear (they were doing this 
in the 20's fer crissakes) instead of having him walking around, finger 
upraised with a supposed life of its own, saying "REDRUM, REDRUM, REDRUM" 
in this cracked parody of a voice from beyond. All of us fortunate people 
who have actually read the book knew what was going on, but I have seen this 
film with friends who havn't read it and they proceded to roll upon the 
floor with much mirth whenever Tony displayed his presence in a finger 
waggling extravaganza. I had to explain, through my own laughter, that this 
was what happened when Danny's invisible friend arived ("haha....yeah I know 
its shit but...hehe...it was done much better in the book....<titter titter>)
	I also had a problem with the casting. Jack Nicholson was great, 
Scatman Crothers was pretty good, Danny was OK, but where in fuck did they 
pull Shelley Duvall from. Call me sexist (no doubt many will - I don't care) 
but I pictured Wendy as a *good-looking*, *together* woman (maybe, in 
keeping with my current attitude, that should be babe, or chick). Shelley 
Duvall was a skinny, ugly, whining, ugly, shrieking, ugly, mess of a bitch. 
I really felt myself sympathising with old Jack for wanting to cleave that 
bug-eyed, buck-toothed, head in two (or twenty, or two-hundred, whatever). 
I have yet to see this scrag in any other films (I watch my share, but maybe 
they're the wrong ones) so it wasn't as if she was a big star or anything. 
Did they cast her as a favour to someone? Aw, I don't know.

	Much as been said about It lately - apparently it has just been 
shown on the tele in th US, yes? - and I must also add my disappointed 
voice. It seemed to me that they filmed the first hour-and-a-half then 
looked at the screenplay/book/whatever and said, "Fuck, we havn't even 
started yet...", and consequently attempted to squeeze the remainder of the 
novel into the last hour or so. In doing so they cheated on the story in 
many places and left people who havn't read the book scratching their heads 
saying "wha...".

	Now, Christine, *there* was a movie. Disagree again if you will but 
I think that this is the best "King movie". It ran reasonably closely to the 
novel, was very suspenseful, and the casting was good, especially Arnie(? - 
its been a while). You could actually see how the car was fucking with his 
mind. However, the last scene where the half-meter square chunk of crushed 
car starts flexing left many a person primed for a sequel, I think. Has this 
ever surfaced? Did I miss it? Maybe it didn't make it downunder, huh? 
Anybody?

 - Trigger

Life - "None of us are getting out of this alive, so we might as well enjoy 
	it."
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