Self-conscious and in some ways cliched

Rating: 3/10 (30 August 2002)

There is much to recommend in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining." Unfortunately, beautiful cinematography, clever editing and some good performances are subverted by a few awful cinematic horror cliches. A cobweb-covered dining table surrounded by skeletons? How many movies had we previously seen that in? I can name at least one -- 1972's "The Night Strangler." There must be many more. Was this supposed to be some sort of a joke on Kubrick's part? He didn't even add his own twist to it.
And how many times does he repeat the identical shot of blood pouring from the elevator? At least three times do we see this. Did he really think it would continue to unnerve on its third replay (especially when we'd already seen the same shot months before in the trailer)? "Whoo, look at this -- gallons of BLOOD coming out of the elevator! Isn't that scary? Here, let's play it again. See? Whoo! One more time for the road!"

Puzzling choices for a director as brilliant as Kubrick.
And there is so much intentional humor in Jack Nicholson's performance that I don't find him frightening at all.