One of the worst movies of all time!

Rating: 1/10 (15 October 2006)

I am dismayed at the overwhelming positive response to this garbage of a movie. The only explanation I can come up with is the responses are affected by what I can the "Genius Effect" and time. The Genius Effect (which I'm sure someone else probably has coined - but if not, I'll take credit!) would dictate that if the filmmaker is a genius, then the film is a work of genius and must be excellent. Since I don't consider Kubrick a genius, I don't think all he had done was great. Some of it was OK, probably the best was FULL METAL JACKET, but I digress. I do think this point has some merit because reviews of Eyes Wide Shut were very good and, very recently, it was revealed that Kubrick himself thought it was bad (see Guardian Unlimited Film, http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1888077,00.html).
The other effect, time, is more of what I remember people saying when the movie first came out. There were many comments that it shouldn't be considered a horror film but rather a comedy because audiences were laughing more than screaming (and not just at the funny moments, i.e. "Here's Johnny!"). It seems audiences are more kind as time goes by, or at least in this case anyway.
The "acting" in this film is absolutely atrocious, especially that of Shelley Duvall, which one IMDb user stated "is very naturalistic. It does not seem like acting at all." That's because it isn't. It is flat and unemotional (even when she tries to be emotional). Jack Nicholson doesn't become crazy due to isolation, he's nuts from the beginning. His character's dealing with his wooden family doesn't beg the question, "Why does he want to kill his family," but, "Why didn't he do so long before this?" Not saying I condone injury to the dull and irritating, but being locked up with those two would put anyone's nerves on edge. I can't believe they survived the car ride to the hotel.
Needless to say, I didn't find THE SHINING scary in any way, even when I saw it at age 11. By then, I had the wits scared out of me by a far worse movie IT'S ALIVE (gimme a break, I was 7). After that, I have yet to be scared by any other movie, and THE SHINING never even came close.
In all honesty, I have tried to give THE SHINING a reasonable chance. I've seen it more than five times, thinking "I must be missing something." Each time it gets worse.