A Horror Classic

Rating: 8/10 (30 September 2013)

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father (Jack Nicholson) into violence, while his psychic son (Danny Lloyd) sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.
What is most interesting is that this film has gone from bad to good. When it first came out, the reviews were not so positive, and there were even some Golden Raspberry nominations (but no wins). Today, this is not only considered a top horror film but one of the top 100 films of any genre... what a turnaround.
Then we have King's disappointment, and I think he raises serious concerns: he did not like the casting of Nicholson, and he did not think Kubrick made the film as horror-focused as it could have been. On the first point, it is true that the lead should have had a greater transition. Nicholson just looks crazy from the first scene. I would love to have seen Michael Moriarty...
As for the Kubrick criticism, it is true... he bent over backwards to make an artsy, stylish film, but maybe not a horror film. It is a great film, but maybe not a great horror film. If you want a good haunting film, for example, "The Changeling" has this one beat...