Check In at the Overlook Hotel

Rating: 10/10 (26 June 2005)

Stanley Kubrick outdid himself when he made The Shining and I thought Full Metal Jacket would be the only one I would remember him for. Jack Nicholson tears you a new one with his character Jack Torrance. Jack is a writer and teacher who gets the posh "dream job" of running a old and very fancy resort, The Overlook Hotel as its caretaker. Jack is told that the winters there are especially brutal and that him and his family will be shut up there for several months. He is also told the hotel was built on an ancient Indian burial ground (Stephen King's favorite plot element) and that many years ago one of the caretakers went crazy and slaughtered his family. One of those "Just thought you ought to know" embarrassing moments for the management type things. But Jack is unconcerned. He doesn't drink at all and needs solitude to write his book. They are given the grand tour and meet the head cook who "establishes a mental rapport" with Jack's young son Danny. He and Danny have a gift where they can hear people talk without them talking and can sense impending danger. The family moves in and so begins the long winter siege. Jack likes the place very much in fact he loves it and he gets the impression that he's been there before. His wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall), who is enthusiastic at first, gets the impression that the hotel is not quite normal and is affecting her son in a bad way. Jack becomes more and more irritated with her attitude and day by day he spirals deeper into madness. Jack is determined to correct Wendy's and Danny's behavior and stay at the Overlook forever. Now young Danny and Wendy must find a way to thwart him and escape with their lives. Watching Nicholson slowly lose his strong mind is a joy to watch. It's as entertaining as it is frightening. Only Jack could make it so believable. And Duvall and the young boy are so good they don't even need to be tailored to fit. Danny Lloyd the kid is damn good I don't know how they made him do it for being so young. This film is the best adaptation of a Stephen King book and of the highest quality of cinema. Another one of the select few horror movies of the past 25 years that holds up to its fame and success.