For those scared by Sesame Street

Rating: 3/10 (12 March 2004)

The age old question: Is Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's novel a terrifying film experience? The answer: no. Working from the modern classic, this tale of a man's descent into madness during a prolonged stay at a haunted hotel is about as scary as your average episode of Sesame Street. Now don't get me wrong here. Kubrick is a master at his craft. His camera is always right where it should be. The scenes shot with steadicam are divine. The problem is that Kubrick is a cold filmmaker. Do we care about the Torrance's and their plight? Nope. Are any of the shocking scenes of horror really that shocking? Not unless you've never seen any horror movie before, and I mean none. I'm sorry but every scare is telegraphed from a mile away and is just so lame that only a child would find them truly frightening.
Much has been ballyhooed about Nicholson's bravura performance. Hold on. Did anyone actually read the book? It's about a man's descent into madness. Jack looks loco before he even gets to the hotel and his actions are worse. How could anyone possibly believe that he's getting loony? The whole point is that Jack Torrance is an everyman who snaps under the psychological pressures of his surroundings. Give me a break. And Shelley Duvall as Wendy is so horribly miscast that she can only flounder in her role. Kudos to the casting of the twin girls, though, they were uber-creepy. While King's own miniseries is far from a classic of the genre, it is as it stands a far better adaptation of the book than Kubrick's vision. With a better cast and more skilled director the miniseries could have been what this movie is hyped as but never actually attains.