Heeere's Jack!

Rating: Null/10 (7 January 2004)

Few films have been as thoroughly absorbed into popular culture as "The Shining" has. Stanley Kubrick's tale of isolation, madness, and murder is an undeniable classic.
Jack Nicholson stars as Jack Torrance, a frustrated writer who loses his mind during a stint as winter caretaker at the snowbound Overlook Hotel. This does not bode well for Torrance's wife and son (Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd), who are trapped in the hotel with him.
A combination of stunning imagery (particularly a torrent of blood crashing through the hotel elevators) and slow-building dread provide the film with a lingering creepiness. Nicholson's thrilling, wildly unhinged performance takes over from there. Raising his eyebrows and an ax, Jack becomes a poster child for the badly behaved and criminally insane.