Believe the hype.

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2018)

"The Shining" is Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece horror adaption of Stephen King's novel by the same name. The story follows Jack Torrence played by Jack Nicholson with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and his gifted son Danny (Danny Lloyd). Jack Torrence has accepted the job to be the caretaker of the Overlook is alone and isolated with his family up in the snowy mountains of Colorado. As the harsh winter settles, Jack slowly grows insane and dangerous and his family becomes terrified of his growing instability and hostility.
"The Shining" is notorious for departing far from King's original novel in characterization, tone, and narrative. While there is a departure from the novel, the essential story remains the same while both creative's approach vastly differs. Many have called "The Shining" has one of the greatest horror films ever made. For me, even when I watch it now it remains a chilling and terrifying film to this day.
One of the great strengths the film has is a constant terror of the real/unreal visions and hallucinations the characters experience as the Overlook Hotel comes to life. The sequence of events lined out in the script combined with Kubrick's meticulous technical abilities make for not just a frightening story but a surreal experience that feels more like an imaginative nightmare.
Kubrick's character of Jack Torrence feels less of a genuine character than King's character and more of an incarnation of evil as presented by the Overlook Hotel. Throughout the picture, the two separate entities seems to mesh and become on to the point where I believed everything that was being presented and yet, believed nothing. The film's attempt to confuse the audience and suggest multiple interpretations of the truth is perhaps the film's biggest departure from its source material. It also may be its strongest asset.
"The Shining" is a subjective experience and one of the most essential horror films ever made. It's worth the status it has achieved by now by its meticulous direction, precise shooting and cutting, and subjective interpretive content and delivery. Everyone should get around to seeing this film at least once but should really be seen several times. Much like other Kubrick films, it's an experience that changes over time and with each viewing.
What might turn off viewers is perhaps the ruthlessly unreliable narrative that it transforms into. Right up to the very end shot of the photograph of Jack Torrence, it could prove too distant from definitive interpretation that some passive viewers may not be interested in the re-watch.