Masterpiece of modern horror.

Rating: 10/10 (7 September 1998)

Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" was a high-water mark in horror movie history. The masterful direction of Kubrick makes this one of the eeriest films ever made. Kubrick jungles the subtle with the over-the-top beautifully. One minute he's slowly filming the haunted house and the next he's filming elevators filled with blood. Jack Nicholson makes the film with his slow descent into madness, gradually becoming more and more possessed until he's almost a comic presence. The people who have the most trouble with this film are gore-hounds (who probably didn't like the lack of violence) and fans of the book (who were disappointed that Kubrick, as he always does with his source material, made the movie so radically different).