The Shining, 1980, Stanley Kubrick, USA

Rating: 9/10 (10 September 2013)

The Shining is one of the most chilling and memorable horror movies of all time. The film follows a writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and his family who are offered a job as winter caretakers for the Overlook Hotel. Despite the dark rumours about the hotel Jack accepts as he believes the quiet will help him overcome his writer's block. Little does he know that the hotel will bring out a lot more than the artistic side of him.
Kubrick gives us the eerie, elegant and wonderfully lit spaces of the Overlook Hotel. You sense this isolated and mysterious place the Torrances now call a home isn't quite right, the place is filled with memories of it's violent past and the true horror and suffering that has taken place here is soon revealed.
Kubrick tries to simultaneously unfold two stories, one being the hidden secrets the Outlook Hotel possesses and another being a family drama. It has to be said, some of the supernatural sides to the film are badly explained remainders from Stephen King's novel and they are irrelevant to the main story plot at some points. Like the mirror that reflects some things but not others and the ghosts that haunt Danny then just stop
Nicholson's performance as the abusive father is thrilling and has a kind of black comedy side to it, and the final shot of his face in daylight is brilliance.Jack is a vibrant character, fueled with anger and madly alive in every scene.
I regard this film a huge success for Stanley Kubrick, it was not terrifying in the conventional way a horror film is supposed to be. So because it doesn't fit the usual horror genre, some viewers don't like it. But this is the very reason I do like it because it's abstract, clever and at some points even funny and with all of that it still effectively scares the audience.