Shelley Duvall, underrated

Rating: 10/10 (25 June 2005)

A lot of people seem to overlook (ha ha) the acting on Shelley Duvall's part. She is the catalyst to the horror and her reactions not only reflect ours, they also seem to amplify them. No one has ever played someone so heart-stoppingly terrified and I doubt the movie would have been nearly as scary had it not been for her eyes popping out of her head. You need to have someone convince you of how terriffied they are in order to sell the intensity of their "situtation". I'm sure a lot of people don't recognize this because they are merely looking out for the scares around every corner and are focused on Jack Nicholson coming after her. So, in a way, you are guided by the victim as she runs about but often don't notice. So 10 points for Ms. Duvall. I don't know who or what was scarier, the hotel, the story, Jack Torrence, the ghosts or simply Wendy freaking out.