The first 2 1/2 hour movie to keep me entertained the whole way through

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2004)

.:::*SOME SPOILERS*:::.
I like a lot of two and a half hour movies, but all the ones I saw had some boring/un-interesting parts. Maybe not a lot, but at least one or two. Then I saw The Shining.
In 1997, my friends and I read the book and then saw the TV movie. We all liked the book and the TV movie. Then, one of them saw this film and told us not to watch it because it disgraced the book. Well, I watched it anyway. I can't believe my friend didn't like. Sure, it wasn't all that true to the book, but it was great and entertaining, which is what most movies aim for.
The book scared the crap out of me. The TV movie was kind of scary, but not really. This movie is the scariest thing I've ever seen. Everything about it was terrifying: the blood in the elevator, the woman in the bathtub, and, most of all, the girls in the hallway. I can't tell you how much that scared me. I literally had to pause the movie to make my heart stop beating so fast. The thing was, I had read about how scary the girls were in this movie, but I didn't think they'd actually be this scary! I was proved wrong. So everything you read about the girls is true. And everything else, yes. They are horrifying.
Yet, in a way, it's mind-blowing. Stephen King's book really makes you think and it took my friends and I a long time to fully understand everything. Kubrick adapts that book into a screenplay and adds even more for the viewer to think about. If you haven't read the book and you go to see this movie, I couldn't imagine how much thinking that is. Something like that is extraordinary.
Jack Nicholson was perfect. There's no other word to describe it. When I saw the TV movie, I thought that actor was okay, but he wasn't how I imagined Jack Torrence when I read the book. Jack Nicholson not only gives his best performance in this film, but he also portrays Torrance like I had imagined him. Danny Lloyd was terrific in his big screen debut (and sadly, his last) and Shelley Duvall was....decent. Oh yes, Scatman Crothers was good as well. You know what, I'll just stop naming people. Everyone from Nicholson to the extras were great.
Overall, this is a movie you simply can't miss. Don't listen to anyone when they say that The Exorcist or Psycho or Rosemary's Baby are the scariest movies. They are all scary, but I can't imagine anything being any more terrifying than this masterpiece.
10/10.