A good story ruined by poor casting

Rating: 4/10 (6 July 2019)

Stephen King was correct in criticising Jack Nicholson's casting. While he was one of the few that actually acted well, instead of being a story about a regular man who was driven insane, it was clear he was a lunatic from the very start which robbed the story of it's very essence. Shelley Duvall was terrible, overacting everything as much as possible to the point of cringe, as did Danny Lloyd although it's hard to be too critical of him at such a young age. The sudden jumps between silence and ear piercing audio is poorly executed and off-putting, ruining any suspense the movie had managed to develop. And to top it off, following the quite good maze chase scene, the ending just jumps to what is literally a still image. Even looking past the differences between modern production and acting and the standards of those times, I genuinely cannot understand the praise this movie receives. But I am thankful for the cultural impact this movie has had, resulting in some brilliant media like 30 Seconds To Mars' "The Kill" music video and Ice Nine Kills' "Enjoy Your Slay"