Good but not one of the greatest horror films ever

Rating: 7/10 (13 November 2009)

I enjoyed The SHining to a point. The imagery was well done, especially the beginning when you see and aerial view of the car climbing ominous mountains that seem to want to swallow it whole, and also the scenes in the Overlook Hotel itself. All these things lend great atmosphere to the movie, as well as the musical score, but other than that, this movie didn't terrify me like the best horror films do. THere are just long points in the movie where nothing really happens. THere is dread, I'll agree, but there are also other scenes that just don't go anywhere. THe interview itself in the beginning seems too drawn out, taking up entirely too much of the movie if you ask me.
Some people want to talk about the acting, but it seemed entirely too wooden. Shelly Duvall as Wendy is weak and dull, and Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance doesn't become interesting until he starts going crazy and acting like he does in most of his movies. Danny Lloyd, who plays the son Danny, has a telepathic ability called the Shining and has daily conversations with an imaginary friend named Tony. THis could've been a little more interesting, but never goes far enough to really catch your interest.
THe plot is simple enough. Jack Torrance is offered a job as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, and brings his wife and son with him because it will be many months of seclusion with just the three of them in a large ominous hotel. THe set-up is great, and Stanley Kubrick uses the steady cam to perfection in this movie to show us how spooky this large hotel is. As Jack slowly goes insane he starts seeing the ghosts that haunt this large hotel which comes first in the form of one ghostly bartender and then transforms into a whole ballroom of spooks. It is only Danny though, with THe Shining, who sees the twin girls. Many of you already know what happened to them, but I will not spoil it for those who haven't. THere is also the telepathic link that Danny has with the hotel's cook named Dick Halloran and played by Scathman Crothers. Once again not much is given about this special ability shared between the two. It is glanced over while Dick and Danny talk alone for the first time at the beginning of the movie, but otherwise goes nowhere else, except to bring Dick back from Florida when things go very bad closer to the end.
As I've said, the setting is great, the visuals are wondrous at building dread and atmosphere, but the acting and script are rather weak because nothing is ever explained and the actors, other than Nicholson's character, really never change. Then again, upon first seeing Jack Torrance, I thought he was a little loopy then and just becomes way more loopy as the long drawn out story pushes to the end.
In my opinion The SHining has enough good points to be recommended, but can not quite match the perfection of a movie like Alien which also starts out slowly, but becomes much more fast paced and terrifying as it leads to its conclusion, and it also has better acting.