Here's Johnny!

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2004)

This movie is so much fun. It's scary, funny, eerie, and haunting. Most fun of all is watching Nicholson slowly deteriorate. He really cuts loose in this film, delivering lines with his classic over-the-top delivery. Lines like "Here's Johnny!", "Give me the bat, Wendy!", and "I'm going to beat your f-ing brains out!" are spit out with such relish, even though they're essentially horrific in their context, somehow I can't help but laugh when Nicholson rattles them off. So many moments in this film are memorable. Nicholson chasing his wife and son through the huge lawn-maze, the gallons of blood pouring like a tidal wave down the hotel halls, the two little girl ghosts, and on and on. When THE SHINING was released, I believe it was slaughtered (no pun intended) by the critics. But to me, this is a fun way to spend a couple of hours each and every time I watch.