Probably the BEST scary movie of all time!!!

Rating: 10/10 (4 November 2005)

This movie is so darned good and scary that I get goosebumps just thinking about it. I have read the Stephen King novel and seen the movie and in my opinion the movie is MUCH scarier. King supposedly didn't like the ample changes that Kubrick made but I think that they improve the whole thing greatly.
Jack Nicholson is freaky as heck and he pretty much sets the gold standard for all "now-I'm-calm, now-I'm deranged" acting roles. (Robert DeNiro is also great at that kind of thing.) Shelly Duvall is fairly annoying, but in the novel Wendy was *supposed* to be kind of annoying. The hotel maze is a BIG improvement over the hedge-animals in the novel, and the twins are an incredible addition. (They weren't even in the novel at all.) The movie's ending is also MUCH better, scarier, and more satisfying than the novel's. (I love Stephen King but he often has a problem providing endings that match his novels' quality and scariness. See the novel "IT" for a case in point. Pet Sematary is an exception.) I have seen many, many horror movies in my time and "The Shining" sits atop my list. It's a masterpiece of suspense, creeping insanity, and things that go bump in the night. It's one of the very few films that I think merits a full 10 out of 10. If you haven't seen it, what are you waiting for?