A beautiful car with a V8 engine...

Rating: 8/10 (6 June 2005)

Following the critical success and commercial failure of Barry Lyndon (1975), Kubrick's next project was an adaptation of Stephen King's bestseller about a writer who goes insane whilst taking care of an off-season hotel plagued by malevolent forces; this may have seemed a surprising choice of subject matter given the high-brow, prestigious source material of his previous film. Several years before, Kubrick had passed on the extremely successful The Exorcist, and was now understandably keen to make a hit.
Kubrick's desire to please audiences was reflected in his casting, and he chose Jack Nicholson to portray the demented Jack Torrence, the caretaker with writer's block whose son triggers off the spiritual forces at the hotel. Nicholson's over-the-top performance is what makes the film so memorable, recalling George C. Scott's eccentric mugging from Kubrick's earlier Dr Strangelove.
Improving on the novel's tedious generic clichés, Kubrick attempted (and generally succeeds) in creating a cerebral, psychological horror movie which is as much about inner space as 2001 was about outer space. (The hotel's outdoor maze functions as an apt metaphor for Jack's interior state.) The film is high on atmosphere and chills, particularly in its depiction of the various 'shinings' (paranormal visions), and is as glossy and beautiful as you'd expect a Kubrick film to be.
Fans of the book may be disappointed (as indeed was King himself), yet it is arguable that Kubrick once again takes a relatively formulaic and uninspiring novel (c.f. Clean Break, Red Alert or The Short-timers) and from it crafts a magnificent work of art. It is just a shame the superior 140 minute version (which I would rate 10/10) is not available.