Atmospheric, terrifying 80's horror masterpiece!!

Rating: 10/10 (23 November 2015)

For those who haven't seen The Shining, there is a chance you may have missed the boat. What I mean is, this is a movie that you will have needed to watch in the decade it was released. There is a good chance it won't be appreciated by the CGI hungry viewers of today's movies.
This is arguably the most over analysed film in history. The basic synopsis is this. Jack Torrence, played by the legendary Jack Nicholson, is a school teacher who is aspiring to be a writer. He decides to take his family to an isolated hotel (The Overlook) for the winter, where he himself will be the caretaker. He learns briefly about the hotels rather gruesome past in his interview with the hotel manager, Mr Ullman. Undeterred, he takes the job regardless.
His son, Danny (Danny Lloyd) has the ability to see the future, aided by his imaginary friend, Tony. Tony warns Danny beforehand to stay away from the hotel. He has an uncanny way of trying to scare Danny from potentially dangerous situations by showing him horrifying visions of what lies ahead. Taking a rather less graphic approach, the head chef, Mr Halloran, explains to Danny that the hotel does have a past, however there is nothing here that can hurt him in any way. Halloran knows instantly that Danny is in a precarious situation in this hotel, due to his psychic power (The Shining). When Danny provokes Halloran to come clean about one of the guest rooms, room 237, Halloran is clearly rattled and rather forcefully tells Danny "there ain't nothing in room 237. But you ain't got no business going in there anyway. So STAY OUT, you understand STAY OUT". As the viewer, this is a very gripping scene as we can now see that Halloran was sugar coating the issue of the hotels danger to Danny. There are things here that can hurt him and his family.
My only gripe with The Shining is the pace of the movie. Jack becomes absorbed by the hotel far too quickly. Actually to the point of total madness. His wife, Wendy, played by Shelly Duvall, can sense all is not rosy with her husband. But it could just be the isolation, couldn't it? No way. The forces are getting stronger. The power of Danny's Shining ability is enough to stir up whatever entities or apparitions are lurking in the hotel. You will love the scenes where Danny is riding his tricycle around the hotel, turning every corner, not knowing what may be lurking around. He runs into the ghosts of 2 murdered little girls, he cannot help but take a trip up to the 2nd floor, having the nerve and audacity to try and get inside 237. But oh damn it the door is locked. Don't worry he will return.
The sense of isolation is intensifying as the movie gathers pace. Jack is losing his marbles. Danny is foraging around, just aching to find something in the hotel which he will regret, and Wendy just seems to be oblivious to the whole situation.
Danny decides to return to the 2nd floor. But instead of trying to open the door, he chances his luck by playing with his cars just slightly down the corridor from the room itself. A tennis ball suddenly rolls towards Danny, who looks up only to see nobody there. So what's the best thing to do in this situation? Run? Probably. Call for your mum and walk towards the door of 237? Definitely not. But what does he do? Walks towards the door of 237 to find it slightly ajar. Then of course he walks inside. Big mistake. Why was it a big mistake? Well I will leave this to those who haven't yet seen it to find out.
Jack is now becoming a complete nut job. Wendy is the terrified wife. Danny sends a signal to Halloran to come and help. The poor sod goes through a lot of effort to get to The Overlook, to then be bumped off quite quickly by a crazy, axe wielding madman that only Jack Nicholson could have pulled off.
This review is fairly brief but I just wanted to point out the main theme. There are lots of theories regarding this movie. Were the ghosts real? Did Danny even enter that room? You will hear a lot of nonsense regarding moon landings and ancient Indian culture blah blah blah. I guess the thing to do is watch the movie and then decide for yourself.
A Kubrick masterpiece. 10/10