no way this belongs in the Top 250

Rating: 6/10 (25 February 2003)

I have never understood the hype & love for this film. It must a Kubrick thing - people praise his work regardless of actual merit. Any Stephen King fan should be ashamed of this film. Sure the hotel looks great and spooky and ominous and the deep focus photography is excellent.
But the story, OMG! what went wrong? for starters, everything. The SK novel was basically chucked out the window except for the most general of character sketches and plot outline. The details that made the novel scary and fascinating were ignored. No hedge animals?!? The entire alcoholic subtext was removed and this just becomes another haunted house story.
Plot holes abound. (SPOILERS AHEAD) I gave up on this being even a watchable film when Scatman Crothers' character, a man with great psychic ability, is summoned back to the hotel from thousands of miles away knowing something is horribly wrong, and then walks in the front door and asks "Is anybody there" prior to getting killed. Monumentally stupid!
If you are an SK fan, stick with his miniseries version which far more accurately captures the story he wrote. There's a reason why he hates this film. A very good reason. It sucks.