Don't Overlook this horror film

Rating: 8/10 (27 October 2002)

One of my favorites as a kid, and still great to see today. It's not entirely satisfying though. The problems with the film mainly come from the second half. The use of Scatman Crother's character when he makes his way back to the Overlook is clever and must have seemed great on paper, but it takes a lot of time and may cause a lot of impatience to some viewers. Also when the spooks of the hotel finally make themselves visible to Shelley Duvall, it's a bit of a letdown, since they're just a few random shots of things that have been seen in a lot of ghost films before. The moods of hauntings, possessions, and isolation have never been handled better though. This is one of scariest films ever made, it gives me the creeps, and Jack Nicholson's rant to Duvall about bothering him while he's working is a classic. The final chase through the maze is ingeniously handled, it has a real sense of danger. ***1/2 out of ****