Movie Review: The Shining

Warner Bros

In continuing to knock another classic off my “movies I’ve never seen” list, I just watched The Shining for the first time.  The horror film released in 1980 has consistently been among the highest rated movies of all time and is considered elite among its genre.  Based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel (but not very reflective of it), director Stanley Kubrick produced a movie in which the lead characters really shined.  Not counting the boy, who was good in his own right, Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall were magnificent in their roles of Jack and Wendy Torrance.  To me, their performances were what made the movie what it is by really selling it to the viewer, drawing them closer and closer to the edge of their seat as each scene passes.  But there is more to the movie than just their brilliant performances that make this movie a fan favorite to so many.

I’ve never read Stephen King’s novel so I can’t compare the plots, although many movie reviews I’ve read discuss just how different the two are.  But the movie’s plot is as follows: A father (Jack Torrance) decides to move his wife (Wendy Torrance) and young son (Danny Torrance) to a luxurious hotel in the wilderness of Montana for the winter so he can have a place to get away and write his next book.  The hotel, although a booming business throughout the summer, must shut down every winter because they can’t afford to keep the roads clear when the harsh winters inevitably arrive.  Therefore, hotel management and Jack have agreed that the Torrance family will look after it all by themselves for five or six long winter months while Jack attempts to write his book.

thefilmstage.com

However, there is a catch: the hotel has some brutal history to it.  Aside from having to resist Native American attacks while being built on their long-time sacred land, the hotel was home to a terrible murder, when a father slain his wife and two young daughters one lonely winter after suffering a mental breakdown resulting from the house’s sinister presence, or from cabin fever as many had believed.  As far as Jack was concerned, it wasn’t a big deal whatsoever.  But his son Danny, who had psychic abilities to see past and future happenings, became deeply disturbed upon entering the hotel for the first time.

thelittle.org

With the house’s sinister presence feeding on vulnerable occupants throughout the years, it made Jack its next priority.  What seemed like a luxurious winter vacation home to a small family of three quickly turned into a place of nightmare for everyone involved.  Jack suffered writer’s block, which just added to his frustrations toward life and his family, causing Wendy and Danny to quickly became scared of his behavior.  How far would he let his frustrations and mental problems push him?  Would the hotel once again be a site for a brutal murder?  Would Danny’s psychic abilities save them?  After all, they were all alone in the middle of the wilderness where the heavy snowstorm had blocked all communication from the outside world.  Throughout this movie, the viewer has so many questions and absolutely no idea to how they will be answered.

independent.co.uk

After watching the movie, I completely understand how it is considered such a classic and why it’s among the greatest horror films of all time.  Like I’ve already mentioned, the acting was brilliant.  Nicholson and Duvall both sold their performances so well that it sucked the viewer right in.  And Danny Lloyd, who played the young Danny, gave a very creepy and somewhat disturbing performance as well.  Without the acting, the movie wouldn’t have been nearly as successful as it was.  The plot was a very interesting one that set up intrigue from the beginning, with that credit going to Stephen King.  And there were so many things throughout the movie that were left up for interpretation.  When this happens in movies, it keeps people talking about it forever, and that’s exactly what people are doing with this movie, especially in trying to fully understand the end.

With all of that being said, it isn’t a movie I would go running to see again.  Each person has their types of movies they really like, as well as types they don’t like, and this one for me fell somewhere in the middle.  While I recognize the fantastic writing and acting, it just wasn’t my type of movie.  I could watch this again four to five years down the road, but wouldn’t have much interest in watching it again until then.

I would definitely recommend everyone to see this movie at least once, though.  For some people, they are going to absolutely love it because it would be right up their alley.  And for others, they might think it is rather strange like I did.  But I don’t think anyone can watch this movie and walk away from it believing it was a poorly made movie.  Give this a watch if you want a suspenseful thriller that invokes a little bit of scare from you as you repeatedly wonder what will happen next.

Rating: 3.25/5

Garett