How good is Jack Nicholson at portraying the insane? (Think 'Batman', 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest’) The Shining is no exception. Every time I watch this film I'm left thinking that maybe a part of Nicholson really is insane, his performance is that convincing. Coupled with the performances of his two co-stars, Shelly Duvall and Danny Lloyd, who was just 7 at the time, it really is hard to fault the acting in this film.
The Shining happens to be one of my all time favourite films, although I can appreciate that it is not everyone's cup of tea. Many a time have I forced some poor sole to sit down and watch it with me, hoping they'll love it like I do, yet this is not always the case. If you're into horrors and thrillers, this is a must see, if not, this may just seem like a long and disturbing piece of cinematography.
The plot is taken from Stephen King's novel, 'The Shining'. However if you've read the book and are about to see the film, you may be in for a few surprises as Kubrick altered and edited many areas of the original story.
*A Brief Synopsis:* Jack Torrence, a struggling writer, takes on a winter job as a caretaker in 'The Overlook Hotel', a huge building enclosed and completely cut off from the outside world by snowy mountains. He moves in for the winter with his wife, Wendy, and young son, Danny, who has psychic powers, otherwise known as the shining. Thinking the hotel would be an ideal location to concentrate on his writing, Jack sets to work, however the oppressive isolation and eerie past of the hotel takes its toll on Jack and he begins a grim decent into psychotic insanity, punctuated by Danny's vivid and disturbing shinings, this really is a dark, dark film.
I'm always amazed at the effects and quality of filming when I think that it was filmed in 1980, I'm sure it was a film before its time. And whoever chose the music did a fantastic job, Penderecki's tunes on their own scare me and suit the film perfectly.
This is a film I never tire of, a classic. Surely its cult following speaks for itself.
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Stanley Kubrick'sThe Shiningis less an adaptation of Stephen King's best-selling horror ... more
novel than a complete re-imagining of it from the inside out. In King's book, the Overlook Hotel is a haunted place that takes possession of its off-season caretake...
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Stanley Kubrick'sThe Shiningis less an adaptation of Stephen King's best-selling horror ... more
novel than a complete re-imagining of it from the inside out. In King's book, the Overlook Hotel is a haunted place that takes possession of its off-season caretake...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) gets a job as caretaker at the ... more
deserted Overlook Hotel during the winter. He takes up residence with his wife, Wendy, and son, Danny, who experiences clairvoyant forebodings. As the bleak isolation of...
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as in this harrowing masterpiece from Stanley Kubrick is it fear of murder by someone who should love and protect you - a member of your own family? From a sc...
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