So good it's scary.

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 2011)

Heeeeeeeere's JohnnyHollywood that is, and this week I'll be reviewing what is, in my opinion, the greatest horror film of all time: The Shining. Based on the novel by Stephen King and directed by the extremely creative Stanley Kubrick (whose most popular films have featured regularly in 'All-Time Greatest' lists), it is a film that has burrowed its way into popular culture like few others have. Its depth in storytelling not only revolutionised the horror genre, but also gave one of the greatest actors of his generation, Jack Nicholson, the role that would launch him to superstardom and forever define his career.
The film revolves around Jack Torrence, an aspiring writer who has accepted the winter caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel because he feels it would be the ideal place to work on his stories in peace. He brings along wife Wendy and son Danny (who possesses a unique supernatural ability to contact the dead) and begins a gradual yet overt descent into madness, assumedly brought about as a result of total isolation and boredom within the hotel. He decides, with the influence of a few deceased hotel guests, to kill his wife and son (you know, to pass the time) and so Wendy and Danny are left to fend for themselves.
In a near-perfect film, Jack Nicolson gives an outstanding performance that, if it weren't for Heath Ledger's psychotic portrayal of The Joker (coincidentally, another of Nicholson's most popular roles) would stand alone as the most sinister character in cinematic history. Criticised for overacting upon the film's release, greater research into the character through reading the novel leaves no doubt that Crazy Jack hit the mark completely. In stark contrast, I feel his co-star Shelley Duvall to be the only weak point of the film, utterly wooden in her delivery and just plain unlikeable as an individual that we, as the audience, are meant to feel automatic sympathy for.
The unmistakable imagery of the film has contributed to its status as one of the most referenced films in popular culture. The bleeding elevators, creepy O'Grady twins and Jack's face peering through the axed door are easily identifiable even by those who haven't seen the film, but those who have seen it know that these images are merely the surface of Kubrick's multi-layered masterpiece.
Perhaps even more frightful are the woman in Room 237, the dogman & his master and the final shot of the film, which induces goosebumps every time I think of it. Considering how crucial the climax is to a film of this nature, Kubrick does not only create suspense and anxiety of the highest degree as Wendy and Danny fend for their lives against their deranged husband, but then he goes and focuses in on a final photograph, which takes everything you've learnt in the last two hours and turns it on its head, inciting an abundance of home- made theories to justify its meaning, none of which have been satisfactorily proved in thirty years.
With so much emphasis on the visual imagery of The Shining, something I picked up on during a second viewing was the underestimated use of diegetic sound in the film. I draw your attention to two particular scenes: as Danny rides his trikie around the hotel, the wheels thudding as he moves from carpet to timber floor, and the echo of Jack's typing throughout the grand hall. In both of these instances, there is nothing sinister going on in a physical sense, but the ominous sounds give the viewer cause for concern, almost waiting for something to strike off-screen. This dosen't happen, but foreshadows the evil brooding in the hotel's walls, and fits the tone of the film in a most appropriate fashion.
Where the majority of modern-day horror films appeal to a specific target market and apply similar plot and character models with each film, The Shining differs in the way that it has delivered something truly original. A foreboding sense of imminent doom omnipresent in every scene of the film, coupled with Nicholson's immensely enjoyable performance makes this not just the pinnacle of horror, but an excellent all-round endeavour.