All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2004)

Jack Torrance (Nicholson) is a writer looking for solitude so he can concentrate on his work. So naturally, when he's offered the job as winter caretaker for the secluded Overlook Hotel in Northern Colorado, it seems like the perfect way for he and his family to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life so he can concentrate on his writing. Little do they know what a hotel built on top of an Indian burial ground could have in store for them and their states of minds.
First off, this movie is based on a novel by Stephen King, and from that one might deduce that it sucksas most of his novels adapted for the silver screen do just that, which a few exceptions. But this one is a remarkable exception and has everything to do with Kubrick. The acting performances are top notch to the degree that it seems the movie was intended with the three main actors in mind. Nicholson easily pulls off being an ex-alcoholic on the brink of insanity, and Shelly Long looks terrified standing still. Anyone who has seen this movie knows exactly what I'm talking about and would agree that she's very convincingly totally helpless. The little boy who plays their son, Danny, is/was an excellent child actor as well. Most young children have difficulty acting terrified and scared, but this kid hit the nail on the head. And I can't even imagine all the takes they had to go through, being that Kubrick was the director and was known for being one of the hardest, if not the toughest director to work for. I heard, and this might be false, that the movie you see was actually only 1% of the film that was used to shoot the movie.
Tiny Spoilers:
This is the best kind of horror/thriller movie.no monsters, just plain old insanity and frenzied visions of disturbing occurrences. This isn't a movie that scares you or freaks you out simply by shoving stuff in your face when you least expect it. Anyone can do that. What the director has done here is make the audience feel isolated and secluded just like the characters in the movie, which is done through nifty and careful planning of shots and angles. The movie opens up with Jack's car driving done the sidewinder to the Overlook Hotel around curves and it's just beautiful. And it's meant to show just how secluded the hotel is from the rest of civilization. And that's how the movie begins to freak you out. You know it's a secluded location and you soon find out that it's built on an Indian burial ground, and from there you can slowly see Jack slip into insanity. Both Jack and his son Danny have intensely disturbing hallucinations/visions of things that have happened or will happen in the hotel, which sets the tone for the blood-curdling ending.

Of all the `scary' movies I've seen, this is one of the very few that have ever creeped me out or sent chills down my spine, and that's saying quite a bit as I usually find most horror and scary movies complete jokes. I mean, yeah movies aren't really scary anyways, but this movie is freaky.just imagine yourself in that situation.
A Flawless Masterpiece. 10/10.