A Stunning Kubrickian Horror.

Rating: 9/10 (28 May 2017)

He should have made more of them.
Nearly 40 years since it's release The Shining, irregardless of Stephen King's opinion, remains one of the most effective and most atmospheric horror films of all-time. Starring Jack Nicholson in the role of the snowbound (and psychotic) Jack Torrance, who along with his wife Wendy and their young son Danny, are all in for an extended and most eventful stay, at the secluded Overlook Hotel.
The Shining is a grand expose of lurid atmosphere and chilling suspense, topped-off with a bit of telepathic interplay and an all-encompassing sense of complete and utter isolation, all of which will eventually cause the Torrance's much misery. Their torments, both real and imagined, run the gamut from unsettling feelings doubt, to Jack's full-blown fits of ax-wielding, psychopathic homicidal mania. The Overlook Hotel is a character in itself and it's perversely haunted halls provide a steady stream of spectral incursions, in the form of various ghostly apparitions, such as, murder victims of the past, nubile shape-shifters, "lewd spirits" reliving past acts of fornication and an affable bar-tender named Loyd. These haunting's eventually culminate in the form of a grand ball, with many elegant ghostly guests in attendance, all clad in stylish fashions from the 1920's. If all that doesn't quite quench your thirst for spirits OR turn you off completely to The Overlook Hotel, there are still it's "instant blood-baths" to drink in, which inexplicably keep recurring time and again (which is unquestionably one of the movies signature visuals). Beware it's halls of blood! And as unwholesome as it is, The Overlook Hotel provides Us, it's audience, with a great variety of off-color entertainment and sickly situations of pure perversity - and this all happens under one roof!
It would seem that Kubricks main goal with this film was, undoubtedly, to create and sustain a certain type atmosphere, which he slowly builds up, starting with the ever-present sense of isolation that's naturally created by the deep seclusion of The Overlook, that combined with the near constant howling of the cold merciless wind. But that's just the beginning, when things are going well, in time this desolate sense of isolation begins to impinge upon the minds of those within, which causes a pervasive sense of unease and uncertainty. It must be said that Jack Torrance suffers the worst of it and the film essentially turns into a study of a sick man, whose loosing his grip on reality, as his mind slowly begins to unravel and neurosis creeps in. In other words Jack's sick and getting sicker by the day, "out to sea", adrift in a malaise of dire despondency and despair. And it's then that he begins to separate himself from the rest of the world, starting with his family. But Jack's plight only gets worse. Now with his sanity waning by hour, his psychosis begins to take over and his inner-demons begin to stir, which first manifest themselves in the form of murder-filled nightmares, which prompt screams and pangs of terror (and a string of drool). To which he correctly diagnoses the situation AND HIMSELF by saying >>>I must be losing my mind<<<.
Finding himself in an ever-deepening downward spiral of delusion, Jack begins to see things that aren't, physically, there (as does his mentally gifted son, who exhibits a heightened level of sensory perception, making him predisposed to the spiritual presence that haunts the Overlook Hotel), he finds temporary reprieve in the form of few glasses of imaginary Jack Daniels on the rocks. However his moment of serenity is all too brief, as Jack's party is broken up by his wives shrill peels of hysteria, "There's a crazy lady living in the hotel with us!", which soon gives way to one of best haunting's in the movie. Just what IS in room 237. Then if things weren't already bad enough, there's the sinister influence of one Mr. Delbert Grady (and it's here that Jack finds himself - talking to a total stranger - in a public bathroom.....) who ultimately proves to be the decisive encounter, the tipping-point; his slick tongue, bated with sick suggestion, easily overpowers Jack's fragile psyche, which ultimately sets him on a course for which there is no return. Now, the horror of the film is no longer limited to the netherworld AND AN AX violently crashes into reality, which erupts into an electrifying scene of unhinged homicidal mania! But as a rule of this film, most of the perversity which occurs in this elegant masterpiece of horror are implied, rather then manifested.
Once it's all said and done The Shining is a most unusual entry in the horror film genre and it's status is of a distinctly one-of-a-kind nature and it remains a monument to Kubrick's genius and adaptability of working within multiple genres. Yes, it is a bit of slow starter, but the films entrancing and multi-faceted nature will soon capture your imagination, as it plunges you headlong into it's sinister web of despair and ever-present frigid biting cold. This is a movie you'll remember, as it tends to leave behind a sickly ethereal residue, that lingers on your subconscious long afterwards. From a musical stand-point The Shining is a richly rewarding aural experience, one that oozes of atmospheric intrigue and other-worldly atonality's, that roils in a sea of churning discordance and waves of percussive fury - in essence the soundtrack of this film is a veritable dark well of musical malevolence. What I appreciate the most however, is how Kubrick was able to create such a richly immersive and foreboding realm of nightmares, within the labyrinthine corridors of the Overlook Hotel. This film -will captivate- those who give it a chance, as it is a singularly unique collection of sights and sounds... which has it's own way of creeping underneath your skin and needling your nerves, but in the most pleasurable of ways - I promise.
Conclusion: Almost perfect.