Superb slice of eighties horror.

Rating: 10/10 (2 May 2006)

NOTE: This is a review of the 115 minute UK version released on R2 DVD.
Quite possibly one of the best horror films ever made, this is quite possibly one of Stanley Kubrick's most accessible films in the latter part of the directorial career, a dark slice of isolationist horror that uses every trick it can muster to scare the living hell out of the audience, from Jack Nicholson running around with an axe, gory death scenes, ghosts, a perverse scene of semi-sexual activity, you name it and unsurprisingly the film is good, brilliant in fact. It is so easy to single handedly praise Nicholson's performance on it's own, but is merely one aspect of what makes this film so great to watch. First of all there is the direction from Kubrick himself. I'll be honest, I have a love hate relationship with Kubrick's films. I love Full Metal Jacket, Spartacus, Dr Strangelove and of course this film here, but others like A Clockwork Orange and Lolita have tended to leave this viewer cold, I tend to like my films on a more visceral level and I suppose that is the main reason I love The Shining as this is possibly one of his most aesthetically more enjoyable films. It has more of a roller-coaster thrill ride aspect to it rather than the cold aesthetics of 2001 and Barry Lyndon.
Of course the film does takes its time to get going, but this adds to the fun as you can feel the tension growing as the film goes on, you can almost feel the possibly supernatural psychosis growing in Jack Torrence with each passing of every minute, Nicholson becoming more and more frightening as the film goes on. The same goes for the performances from Shelly Duvall and Danny Lloyd. You can almost feel the tension building in everyone before the terrifying last half hour begins and it's a testament to Kubrick's handling of the material that you almost feel their emotions as the film goes on. When Duvall as Wendy starts shouting with terror as Jack goes all Johnny Carson on the audience with an axe, you almost feel like shouting with her, likewise when Danny is running through the maze with an axe wielding Jack after him you almost feel like running with him.
The Shining is a superb piece of horror film-making, a tiring and emotionally burning movie and wears its horror genre credentials on its sleeve. Recently Channel 4 in the UK voted it the scariest film ever made. I don't know if I would go that far, I believe that The Exorcist deserves that title, but The Shining is not far behind. As thrilling and entertaining the film is, it is deeply unsettling, this, like The Exorcist, is a pure horror film and does what the horror genre can do so well when treated right, which is to take a mundane and realistic situation and to turn it into a story that makes the palms wet and the nails shorter. Like the best horror movies, The Shining is no mere popcorn entertainment, it is a trip into the darkness of the human condition. The fact that it is entertaining and thrilling to watch, doesn't detract from the fact that it is also a disturbing film.