The Shining Is A Scary Horror Thriller

Rating: 9/10 (22 June 2009)

The Shining is a scary horror thriller from the late acclaimed director Stanley Kurbick whose admirable in making this movie based on a book by Stephen King by giving audiences almost everything they could except from this kind of genre. Jack Nicholson turns in a great performance of Jack Torrence a writer who slowly begins to slip into insanity because he's being influenced by the dark evil spiritual forces that haunt an isolated hotel in the mountains of Colorado where he and his family are staying as caretakers during the winter. Nicholson is convincing as Jack playing a man whose losing his mind because of the evil spirits that haunt the hotel. Shelley Duvuall is okay as Jack's wife Wendy but nothing memorable. None offense. The rest of the cast including the young boy who played their son are good in their roles as well. The Shining has enough scares, suspense, creepy moments, and surprises. The music seemed to sync well with the tone of the film. It also added to the suspense and creep factor. The running time of over two and a half hours does make it feel a little long but the rest makes up for the movies few flaws. With it's few flaws aside The Shining is definitely one of the best horror films out there and I recommend this to any fan of the genre if you can get past the long running rime. Overall The Shining is an effective horror thriller with suspense, scares, anticipation, creepy moments, surprises, and good performances by the cast especially Nicholson who make this movie worth the time to watch.