MADNESS PURSUES AND CAPTURES JACK

Rating: 10/10 (22 April 2019)

This is, perhaps, the ultimate psychological horror film. In it, Jack Torrance listens attentively to the hotel manager's tale of the previous winter caretaker's descent into homicidal mania. Already on shaky emotional ground himself, the story of his predecessor's tragedy functions as a hypnotic suggestion that takes root with a vengeance in his own vulnerable psyche. Two hours of movie-time later, his psychosis full blown, wielding an axe, he is hunting down his own wife and son through the deserted grounds of their isolated temporary home.
By narrowing the focus of King's novel, Kubrick heightens the terror. His use of music and dazzling photography, as well as a near total absence of darkness in the interior sets (everything is brightly lit
until we get outside in the final ten minutes) - create a texture that is entirely his own. My only problem lies in the last shot: of a black and white photograph
on the lobby wall which shows - Well, see what you make of this.