a masterpiece in horror

Rating: Null/10 (30 April 2001)

Stanley Kubrick's The Shining has been both praised and criticized heavily on this website. One can pick apart a movie to the last detail and find undesirable aspects, but with this movie, and any other Kubrick work, it has to be regarded as a masterpiece of film. There is much that can be said about the production of this movie. In the grueling months it took to film, the actors and crew experienced much of what the Torrence family was experiencing at the Overlook Hotel. As was typical of the director, he maintained a relatively closed set and spent many hours confined in the set that was the hotel. Also, on set with Kubrick were his wife and daughter, who helped with the making of the movie. The actors too felt the role of their characters. Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duvall, and Danny Lloyd did not interact much with anyone outside those involved with production. Jack was in a sense married to Shelly during the production, and perhaps this and Kubrick's own stress of the seclusion is what makes for the great acting. With this movie Kubrick took on the task of making a movie based on a very popular writer's book. This is where many of the criticisms of this movie come from. People are quick to cite the differences between Stephen King's book and Stanley Kubrick's work. Alterations must be made for film. It has to be viewed independently from the book, as the book was only a foundation for Kubrick to build upon. This movie remains in history as one of the scariest and suspenseful of all time. Torrence's character development is where the horror lies, and as he develops into a psychotic killer and up until the point where he is an ice sculpture [which may have suggested King's statues] so too does the suspense. The viewer does not know what Jack will do next.
I believe Kubrick's attempt at a horror movie was very successful. It differs from most in the sense that it is not saturated with supernatural occurrences, rather, it deals with social interaction to express human nature as inherently evil. The only thing that I would like to know is what the bear and suited man that Duvall runs into are to be taken.