i wish i saw this movie years ago (mild spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (23 August 2004)

I think that if I had seen this movie years ago, when I was much younger, I would have appreciated it much more. But because I've grown up with endless spoofs of it, I laughed out loud through most of the movie. It was the cheesiest movie I ever saw. Lines like "this hotel was built on an ancient Indian burial ground" or "I wouldn't go into that maze unless I had a few hours to find my way out" (both paraphrased) almost brought tears to my eyes. Can we say obvious? and finding out about Jack's previous visit to the hotel reminded me of those terrible stories that end with "but Mary's been dead for 10 years"
Of course, as I said before, all those complaints could be related to the fact that I've been desensitized to the horror of the movie by all the spoofs, or that as an 18 yr-old i have a higher tolerance for scary movies. And knowing that this is considered to be a horror classic that most everyone loves, I thought it must be me. But then I came to my senses.
To start with, the score was terrible. My parents were in the room while I was watching, but they weren't watching. Every once in a while they would turn around and say "what in the hell is all that screeching?" or "that is the most irritating sound I've ever heard." They were totally right. The score didn't create suspense, it created a headache. Next, and let me say first, I think Jack Nicholson is an amazing actor, but this movie didn't show his descent into insanity. In the scene when the family was driving up to the hotel, talking about cannibalism, Jack had this crazed look in his eyes. And he was clearly a terrible husband and father way before he "went insane." If you ask me, Jack didn't go crazy, he was crazy the whole time.
I do think though, that some people are too harsh. Like all these people saying how terrible Danny Lloyd was. Now I'll admit that he wasn't great, but come on! the kid was 7 when he did this movie. And if it's true that Kubrick didn't tell him he was making a horror flick, how was he supposed to know what to do? But then again, maybe I don't know anything, since the kid never got work after the shining.
All in all, I found the movie entertaining, but in more of a comical way. Really overdone.