"Little pigs, little pigs, let me in. Not by the hair of your chiny-chin-chin? Well then I'll huff and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in"

Rating: 10/10 (26 January 2005)

A master class in terror and suspense, The Shining brings a claustrophobic atmosphere to a film whose walls close in for its characters. Set at the Overlook Hotel, The Shining stars Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrence, a man who takes a job as a caretaker at a hotel in the off season, and stays there with his wife and son (Wendy and Danny). However he is told that there was once murder there when one man killed his own family before killing himself, gripped in what the locals called "cabin fever" (when isolation becomes too much) Jack is undeterred however, and just wants five months of solitude so he can get some writing done. Soon the horror left over from the murders before starts to seep back, while Danny, who has telepathy and some clairvoyance, begins experiencing "shining , talking to spirits and seeing visions. Jack starts seeing these too, and it is not long before the same madness that gripped the last occupant starts to affect Jack, sending him into a psychotic rage. Can Wendy and Danny get away, and just what is in room 237? One of the scariest films to be put to celluloid, The Shining succeeds in its ability to hold suspense and horror to breaking point before uncoiling it to devastating effect. Nicholson is superb as the tormented Jack, driven crazy by spirits, writers block and isolation, while Shelly Duval deserved an Oscar for her portrayal of the helpless wife. Nothing in this film fails in its objective, from the cleverly woven score of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique during the opening credits to a simple piano key that signifies terror. Kubrick may have made more respected films, but he never made better.