Who Casts Shelly Duvall Anyway...?

Rating: Null/10 (14 September 2002)

Let's just make this short and sweet: Shelly Duvall ruined the great, American, horror classic, "The Shining", as does she ruin every movie. Not only is she just not fit for Wendy, but she can't act at all in the first place. Let's think of some times when the funniest "Shelly Duvall Crappy Acting Moments" are...
1.) Talking to the doctor after his fainting-Tony spell. She can't do it. It's very fake and annoying.
2.) Anytime when she is running through the hotel in her "scared" mode. It's annoying and fake. You wouldn't flail your arms up in the air, waving a knife around, screaming. You just wouldn't.
3.) After Wendy finds "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" written a million times, she is confronted by the author: Jack. She carries a baseball bat with her, and as he backs her up the stairs, she screams and hollers, "Stay away from me! Jack! Please!" Ahhhh... this was annoying and Shelly Duvall was again... terrible at it.
Other than every moment Shelly Duvall was acting, "The Shining" is a classic, not only with horror, but as a classic anyway. The amazing tracking shots, the really cool sets, the mind-setting performances of Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall... HA! NOT! Hehe, that was funny... only of Jack Nicholson and Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers... but especially the un-settling, mind-boggling performance of Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance.
The macabre this movie causes to the mind is really something un-imaginable. Kubrick really takes you into the mind of the hotel and Jack, he really shows you an awe-inspiring look at what the "dark" side may very well be.

To add to this already brilliant movie (besides the "less-brilliant" Shelly Duvall performance), Kubrick took chances that were big for the late 70's, early 80's. The grotesque violence, especially when Holloran is killed, is all-around horrifying and a pure delightful romp if you're in the mood to be freaked out a little... more or less... to be freaked out a lot.

You may even be freaked out by the bad acting Shelly Duvall puts on as Wendy!
Stanley Kubrick may've been extremely crazy. Stanley Kubrick may've been weird, but he certainly made no mistakes while filming this movie... except, of course, the choice of Shelly Duvall for his leading lady.
Kudos,
Blake