My Favourite Horror Film

Rating: 9/10 (14 June 2014)

Show any conspirator a Kubrick film and they can give you a theory to match it. But few films of have ever sparked more confusion, frustration or controversy among theorists than The Shining.
One hesitates to even call it a film. Because it's so much more than that. It's an experience. I even struggle to call it a horror film. It's story seems to transcend reality itself and delve deep into the workings of an unsteady mind. There is something very dubious, dangerous and deeply personal about this movie that is very difficult to define. But I think I speak for everyone when I say that there is no escaping the unsettling paranoia when one feels while viewing this film. It equates to the anxious feeling one experiences when feeling as though they are being watched, even though they are alone.
The disquieting tones of the film do little to put the audience's mind at ease. During it's over two hour run time, we have to endure the harshest psychological mind games that visual story-telling can abide. From a setting standpoint, The Overlook hotel is so much more than it appears to be. It's a danger zone for paranormal energy and madness. Helplessly watching the characters of the film slowly lose their grip on sanity is terrifying to watch and yet we don't dare look away. As the story carries it, it begins to reveal a savage father's hatred for his family, and ghosts and spirits coax his inner demons out from where he tried to bury them until they take their hold on him altogether.
The Shining is more than a simple movie. It's an experience unlike any other, one that may make you feel as though you are descending into delirium. But it is well worth it. Watching it once is not enough. You have to watch it a few, even several times before you can finally understand all of it's complex and inter-woven concepts. And even then, no one can really say for sure what the film is trying to say. Though we have tried desperately to decide on what it means....more than 30 years later, we still don't have a clue.