Scary Images, Creepy Tone

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2005)

***mild spoilers***
When I saw this as a kid, it inspired me to read the book, which, at 11 or 12, scared the bejesus out of me! I realize the film didn't stay as accurate to the book as the mini-series in the 90's did, but some of the scenes in Kubrick's version stay with me to this day - like the twin girls talking to Danny, and the blood rushing down the hall from the elevators.
As I grew up and became more interested in movies, I realized how amazing those tracking shots are - the ones with Danny on his big wheel, riding through those giant empty corridors. Also, the opening credits that show the vastness of Colorado, and then it ultimately zeroes in on the Volkswagon with the family.
Now I love Jack Nicholson as much as anyone, and he was a madman in the film, no doubt; however, I didn't like how he pretty much started out as a madman from the beginning. It would have been scarier to show the family as more 'normal' than Crazy-Jack, Weak-Wendy, and Creepy-Danny. Then have Jack slowly evolve into the monster. Incidentally, Shelly Duvall said that Kubrick would scream and yell at her and treat her like crap on the set if things didn't go his way. I think maybe he was trying to get her in character to appear extra-meek, and scared.
I think the character of Jack in 'The Shining' symbolizes the monster that someone becomes when they're affected by alcoholism. The 'haunted hotel' symbolizes how scary a home can be for the family that lives there. Jack's drink of choice was Jack Daniels. His name is Jack. The son's name is Daniel. There's more evidence to support that theory in the book, that Kubrick chose not cover....like maintaining the boiler, and its ultimate explosion. That's my theory, anyway.
All in all, it is a great film. Not The Greatest Film Ever Made...but still effective, scary, and unsettling.