Quite the Experience

Rating: 9/10 (18 June 2005)

When I read The Shining by Stephen King, I found it to be one of the best novels I had ever laid eyes on, It is his only novel so far that has frightened me (and I have read many of his) and I was almost hyper at the thought of watching the movie. The hedge animals, the bathtub scene in room 217, the playground cave-in, and the explosive ending of the book made me excited about how scary the movie would be. Well. About one hour into the film, I was shocked, simply SHOCKED to find that it had almost nothing to do with the book. I watched on, and to my horror, I found that the hedges, playground, and boiler were gone, replaced with typewriters, mazes, elevators brimming with blood, and slaughtered girls in a hallway. However, I watched on, and the movie gave me grim satisfaction at the end. Kubrick had simply taken the main idea and ran with it. Why did I still like the movie? Simple: It's good. The macabre scenes were enough to cure my blood lust and strong actors graced the story (despite what most people say, I found that Shelley Duvall was a better actor than Jack Nicholson in many of the scenes; he seemed rusty and forced, and his eyebrows didn't help any, either). The movie did not scare me the same way the book had, but its weirdness takes its place, making it a great experience. I gave it a nine only because of its occasional slow scenes.
Watch this movie.