Lets stop pretending

Rating: 6/10 (14 September 2017)

I've seen The Shinning a couple times now and I really have to say, it doesn't get any better with each watch. It was my latest watch (in a film class) that I realized how much of an overrated film this is. I didn't say its terrible but it really misses the mark on what it was trying to be. Stanley Kubrick has made fantastic films and while I find the first 20 min and a few scenes scattered later to be great, the rest of the film feels like an unbalanced mess of tone and lack of direction towards its actors.
Lets be honest, Stanley Kubrick brought no level of humanity to this film and we all know its intentional. But does this really help the audience get on board with these characters for the ride? In short it doesn't. The dense back and forth small talk that is their dialogue comes off as dull and the acting is so over the top it hardly fits with the sinister tone of the music and camera work. I understand its supposed to be an uncomfortable movie but it really just comes off as funny. The lack of subtlety and cranking the performances up to a hundred do the meshing of the styles no favors. I think when people say that the film scares them I think they mean the music scared them. The film tries too hard in telling you what is supposed to be scary like having Jack look out the window with his face frozen. "I get it, he's going crazy, you can end the shot now". Another instance is the elevator of blood scene. Its really creepy until we see Danny's god awful reaction and then I laugh. Kubrick's constant pressure on Shelly Duvall is very apparent on screen. She looks more tired and worn out then scared. I blame Kubrick for her bad performance as he tortured her constantly on set. Kubrick's frustrations with his actors is too visible and I think his lack of subtlety are why what really doesn't work about The Shinning are the tone and performances.
What I admire about The Shinning is the story that is underneath. The hotel built on the blood of the oppressed now haunted, killing and collecting the oppressors. Its the scenes of history repeating itself that are interesting but it all falls short due to the lack of it. They never take these ideas any further. I THOUGHT they would when Dick finally got back to the hotel but nope he dies instantly. Dick knew everything we wanted to know about the hotel and his character is thrown away for nothing. He's just there to establish that the party members are racist, specifically when the Delbert the butler calls him the N word.
In the end I don't hate the Shinning I just wish we could stop calling it a "horror masterpiece", Stephen King actually hates the film. Don't tell me "you don't get it", trust me I get it. I just would rather have a more balanced narrative, characters, and performances. The cinematography is great and disorientating like it should be and the music is the scariest part of the film. Its really just underwhelming, a 6/10 at the best.