King vs. Kubrick

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2004)

Granted, Stephen King considers this film to be the worst adaption of his novels (I guess he really liked Tommyknockers and that one that started with an "L" that was simply godawful), but an author is not always right. The Shining, in my opinion, is quite the opposite - the best adaptation of a King book I've seen and the only one that has aged well, retaining its ability to put one at unease. There are several reasons for this, but two really stand out. One is Nicholson's performance, which may now seem as a standard Jack act but was really the beginning of the seething, satanic anger of characters that he would later play. It is flawless. There is comic detachment in scenes that he really goes insane, but in that comedy lies horror. It is almost as if the character knows it's quietly (and sometimes quite loudly) going insane and finds the fact amusing. "Why not go out with a bang?" Jack's Jake seems to be thinking, "I am loving this demonic liberation." And that's what makes it so unsettling - the ease and joy with which he allows the madness to take over. The other factor is Kubrick's direction, the reason King hated the movie. It is detached, restrained, and "not emotional enough" (King would complain). Now, while I haven't seen King's version of the Shining (the miniseries), I have read the book which I consider to be one of King's very best. It can be easily argued that Jake's plunge into insanity mirrors King's own personal demons (alcoholism was suggested) and the book depicts it brilliantly. I think Kubrick's film does the same, in a different manner. Since film lacks access to the character's thoughts (unless of course you want to make a movie with continuous narration), this is communicated through atmosphere, which in this case, is dehumanized, desolate and terrifyingly lonely. Thus, while King may not like it, it is the best he has gotten so far from any director - The Shining is indeed a classic modern horror, an achievement rarely repeated.