Effective but sometimes confusing and slow horror movie

Rating: 6/10 (10 June 2000)

If you are a fan of the book, this movie can only halfway satisfy you. The basic plot of the Torrance family watching the Overlook Hotel during the winter season is the same, but many pivotal elements that make the book so fascinating are missing or are hinted to but not explained so as to confuse anyone who hasn't read the book. (The scrapbook next to Jack's typewriter as Wendy talks to him, the two men in the bedroom, the whole party going on around Jack and Wendy during the last scenes, etc.) However, Nicholoson's performance definetly makes up for at least part of this. He plays the crazed caretaker very well. Duvall, while a good actress, is somewhat of a letdown in her role because she plays her character as a very wimpish girl who cowers to a lot of her husbands bidding, she redeems herself somewhat at the end but overall she is rather dissapointing. Overall Kubrick tries very hard to make the movie his own, and while there are some very good scenes the movie runs slowly and there are just way too many liberties taken with the book to truly show what Stephen King was trying to show when he wrote the book.