A timeless, open-ended masterpiece.

Rating: 9/10 (1 February 2018)

Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining', a Stephen King novel film adaptation, pushed the envelope, moving cinema away from the then-tired, predictable horror towards an era of deeply abstract, thoughtful, and atmospheric psychological thrillers.
The plot follows Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) who becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado hoping to cure his writer's block.
He brings his wife Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) who is plagued by psychic premonitions.
As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorizing his family.
Kubrick weaves in a deep sense of disorientation and surrealism throughout, he brings forth themes of transcendentalism that departs from what initially seems to be an innocent family drama. I think there are deep spiritual themes here; with Kubrick allegedly calling King during filming to ask him about his belief in God.
The film's production period and method was as atypical and unnerving as the film's material itself.
Kubrick's approach to directing was abusive and callous, he knew that the environment and circumstances around making a film always help to significantly shape the content itself.
He used this knowledge and his position to elicit certain emotions from his cast in the pursuit of method acting, with Shelley Duvall saying that "I lost some of my innocence on The Shining, because for the first time I felt I had to have a lawyer." One of her scenes had an astounding 127 takes with Kubrick known to have screamed at her in front of the cast and crew, she suffered from nervous exhaustion throughout filming, that includes physical illness, she even lost her hair. Jack Nicholson during filming swore he'd never work with Kubrick again.
What message does the film try to send?
Speaking about the theme of the film, Kubrick stated that "there's something inherently wrong with the human personality. There's an evil side to it. One of the things that horror stories can do is to show us the archetypes of the unconscious; we can see the dark side without having to confront it directly"
The ending suggests that past and present are interspersed. The message is clear, no matter who comes and goes, the human condition remains the same; inherently flawed and spiritually fallen.
I will leave you with this Bible verse that says everything:
ADAM! "HOW HAST THOU FALLEN FROM THE HEAVENS, O SHINING ONE, SON OF THE DAWN." (Isa. 14:12, Young's Literal Trans. Of The Bible).