Stephen King's The Shining (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	One of the better remakes around
Disadvantages:	Long

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Based on the book written by Stephen King, the original film of The Shining was adapted as a TV mini series and is now out on DVD. The teleplay iteself was written by King and directed by Mick Garris, who has also worked on Sleepwalkers and The Stand (another 2 masterpieces by King). Yes it is on 2 discs, but one of these is a double sided DVD so, actually it is a 3 disc set.

Okay - you may have guessed it - I'm a Stephen King junkie! I love his books and love to watch films based on his books. But, though I do love his written work, I am still quite objective on the film and tv adaptations so will try to give an honest and unbiased opinion.

The DVDs themselves are housed in double cover, with card overlay. On opening the cover, you are greeted with the Scene Index (I did have this included but have taken it out as it is rather long). Disc 1 is a single disc, while disc 2 is double sided and you have to check by reading around the inner hole to make sure that you are playing the right side. To me, it would have been easier to make it a 3 disc edition but then that would have pushed the price up probably.

DVD Info
~~~~~~~

Audio - 2.0 Dolby Surround
Aspect Ratio - 1.85:1 Widescreen/Colour
Running Time - 260 minutes approximately - Pal
Languages - English, French, Italian
Hearing Impaired - English, Italian
Subtitles - English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Arabic, Romanian
Certificate - 15 (some bad language, moderate violence, some references to sex, and "paranormal horror")
Region - 2 PAL
Produced for Warner Bros Television - www.warnerbros.co.uk
RRP - £19.99

Cast
~~~~

Jack Torrance - Steven Weber
Wendy Torrance - Rebecca De Mornay
Danny Torrance - Courtland Mead

Basic Storyline
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack Torrance is an author and recovering alcoholic, who gets a job as the janitor at the Overlook Hotel for the winter. The hotel is massive and set in secluded grounds. It is closed over the winter but someone has to stay to tend to the basic maintenance of the place. Jack really wants to get away from it all and be able to work on his writing and this job is perfect for him. He also wants to get away from alcohol as it blurs his judgement, as his family know only too well.

Along with Jack comes his wife Wendy and son, Danny. While there they all meet Dick Halloran, the chef at the hotel. He notices that danny has a special gift - he is psychic. Dick knows this because he too is psychic - he calls it 'the shining'. He and Danny are able to communicate with each other without talking, and Dick tells Danny not to believe everything he sees at the hotel and to stay away from room 217. Danny (also known as Doc) agrees to call Dick if he needs help. Danny has his own 'imaginary' friend (Tony) who talks to him and agrees with Dick.

Things go well for the family at first, and then the hotel starts to have a life of its own. The message "REDRUM" starts to appear and danny starts to see things and hear things that his mum and dad are oblivious to (at first). Then it becomes apparent that the hotel does have a life of its own and it wants danny's 'shining' to feed its own malevolance. Jack becomes increasingly paranoid and starts drinking again, much to the dismay of his wife. Jack also gets pulled into the 'reality' of the spirits that want to gain control of his son's gift.

As the horror of the hotel escalates, Danny calls on the only person who understands what is happening to him - Dick. Although Dick is hundreds of miles away, he hears the call and comes running to Danny's aid. But will he make it to the Overlook Hotel in time? Will Danny succumb to the Hotel's spirits and their vile desires? What happens to Jack? What lurks in Room 217? And what's been forgotten? Sorry I'm not telling you - thats giving too much of the plot away!

Extras
~~~~~

The extras on this DVD are pretty self-explanatory and they are:

* Feature length commentary by Stephen King, Steven Weber (cast), Cynthia Garris (cast), Mick Garris (director) & Select crew

* 11 Additional scenes that were deleted from the final version. On watching these, I agree that they do nothing for the story and it is better without them.

* Scene Access

* Interactive Menus

My Opinion
~~~~~~~~~

The one downside of this boxset is the length. Because it was adapted for a tv mini-series, it makes for a long stint in front of the telly. I found it easier to watch one disc at a time, as if I was watching the series itself. But if you have the time, it is worth watching in one go.

Price wise - I paid £19.99 for this and class it as decent value for money - but I would advise that you shop around as I have seen it on play.com for £14.99 with free delivery so you can get it a lot cheaper if you look around.

The special effects are pretty good, considering this was filmed in 1997. The quality of the acting is great, although Steven Weber's Jack is not as scary as Jack Nicholson's original, although exceptionally believeable nonetheless.

In my opinion this is a great remake of a truly great original film, and a classic adaptation of a brilliant book, written by a truly twisted mind. King is a genius at twists and turns in a tale, and this has them all in my opinion, albeit in a lengthened way. Even though it is a lot longer than the original film, this has allowed King to include a lot more information from the book into this adaptation, than was in the original film.

If you get a chance to see this, watch it. I highly recommend this DVD set as I have watched it many times since I bought it and envisage that I will watch it many more times in the future. Definitely a 5 star for me!

Thanks for reading and enjoy! Diane xx