Cult Movies 7

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 1998)

7. The Shining (horror, 1980): Jack (Jack Nicholson) is a writer trying to get away from the city to start a book. He finds the time as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, high up in the mountains. He takes his wife and son Danny along. The owners tell him of a supposed haunting that has befallen the place, brought on by an act of violence decades ago. Jack brushes the story aside. But just days after, his son Danny falls mysteriously ill. As each day passes Jack also experiences mood swings and bad dreams. He's becoming mad.
Critique: 'The Shining' is, simply put, a walking psychotic dream with lots of space, tension, noise, and spookiness. With this film director Stanley Kubrick was at his most technically assured. The themes deal with an unknown fear or intruder. Images and sounds that are seen and heard but just out of reach. Their source? Their meaning? It's all just a ghost story told by a masterful filmmaker. Nostalgia looms high and wide across the spacious hotel, which in turn seems to control each inhabitant.
In '2001'(Kubrik's best known film) there's a scene towards the end where astronaut David Bowman goes through a series of light shows (as he enters the aliens' domain). He suddenly 'lands' in a 16th-century style bedroom. The room looks so quiet and 'shining' that you can even sense it. This is what 'The Shining' reminds me of, a longer version of that film's final, and hauntingly puzzling scene.
Quote: Jack: "Here's Johnny!!"