Stanley Kubrick has proclaimed himself as not only the master of film, but the master of horror!

Rating: Null/10 (3 June 1999)

"The Shining" is one of the scariest films I have ever seen! It's also one of my favorites, due to the fact that it was crafted by the moviemaking god, Stanley Kubrick! I love all of his movies, and this time, he has set out and proclaimed that he too can make a good scary movie! One of the reasons that this film is so terrifying is that he was able to frighten us to the edge of our fears, and never resolve the pent up emotion and tension that has built up throughout the entire film. It also is a horror film that shies away from blood and gore, or visual pyrotechnics, because Stanley Kubrick knew that that kind of stuff wasn't scary enough to create the kind of effect that he wanted. Like Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation", it relies on the psychological fright factor, instead of the usual bag of tricks involving blood and guts. The only supernatural moment in the film involved Delbert Grady opening up the freezer, letting loose an animal of Jack Torrance. Notice how careful Kubrick was in not going overboard with supernatural activity, because most of the horror existed in the mind. Jack Nicholson's performance gives the character his meat, his madness, and he utters one of the most famous lines in film history(which was actually an ad-lib)!
Moreover, this is a psychological horror film that keeps you thinking all the time after you've seen it, and that is what really scares me about this film. The more you think about it, the scarier it seems. I think that was what Stanley Kubrick was trying to achieve, because this film is so intricately riddled with subliminals and ideas, that all mean and lead to something. The only question is, what? It keeps people going and going, debating and trying to figure out what all of those little details in the film meant. Some say this was an artistic failure for Kubrick, which I think is totally wrong! I think that the characters were beautifully defined, and the detail and terror of the film is that of a master. This film is a masterpiece of modern horror and film, by the grand master of film himself!