Fails a little for a horror flick, but still a pretty good job by Kubrick

Rating: 8/10 (24 December 2004)

I've heard many claim this to be a failure, either due to it straying too far from the book(something that apparently ticked King off, though he wasn't the first writer to be less than satisfied with Kubrick's adaptation of their work) or due to Kubrick's love for setting a mood and building atmosphere ruining the scares, at least if you're into sudden shocks, gore and stuff like that. Personally, I don't care too much about the source material... of course, that's probably due to my distinct dislike of Stephen King. But a good story is a good story, no matter who or where it came from. And the better part of the good story here may have come from Kubrick, and it may have come from King. I don't really care. I will admit that the film does fail in some areas, though, as a horror film. The scares are not as constant as they feel they should be, and the film only really works on the atmospheric level. The atmosphere and mood is great. No doubt about that. The film has a nice mysterious feel to it, nothing is explained in too much detail. The story is pretty good, as well as thoroughly interesting and involving. I saw this film once before, years ago... and even though I didn't understand too much of it, I liked it a lot. Particularly because of the story and the atmosphere. The plot is very good, interesting and involving. The pacing is quite good, there are only a few scenes where you're somewhat bored. I believe this is mainly because Kubrick wasn't too used to horror movies... or maybe his approach to the genre just wasn't the best. Through his career, Kubrick went through just about every single movie genre, often only making a single movie in each genre. That might be the reason some of his movies(this one and Full Metal Jacket, mainly) aren't as good as his better movies(A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dr. Strangelove). The acting is good, though it can be argued that the two leads, Nicholson and Duvall, overplay and underplay, respectively, at times. The characters are well-written and credible, though it can be argued that some of them are a little thin. The special effects are great, and still hold up today. All in all, a pretty good horror film, and a very good Kubrick film, but definitely not for all tastes. I recommend it to fans of Kubrick, atmospheric horror films, atmospheric films in general, and possibly fans of the actors involved. 8/10