The Shining (Movie Review)

The movie is The Shining, which was written and directed by Stanley Kubrick and adapted from the novel by Stephen King. Aspiring writer Jack Torrance takes a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, which is remotely located deep within the mountains of Colorado. Jack brings along his wife, Wendy, and his son, Danny, for the entirety of the job, which spans the long, cold winter in Colorado from October 31st to May 1st.

While at first Danny seems like your typically average kid, he begins to display psychic abilities which give him glimpses into the future as well as the past. After the family is left alone at the hotel, strange and bizarre occurrences begin to take place, leaving them absolutely terrified. As Jack struggles to make any progress writing, he becomes more and more unhinged.

Meanwhile, Danny's visions increase in frequency and continue to get more twisted and disturbing. Eventually, Jack is somehow influenced by the hotel's dark secrets, and he begins to unravel, ultimately threatening the safety of his wife and son. The Shining is widely regarded as one of the greatest horror movies of all time, but unlike most of the horror movies of today, The Shining has zero jump scares in it.

The insane amount of fear this movie is able to cultivate ultimately boils down to the music, the acting, and the camera work. The score's phenomenal right from the jump. In the opening scene, the family's driving up the windy Colorado mountainous roads to the Overlook Hotel, and you hear this eerie music that immediately fills you with dread and unease despite the gorgeous, contrasting visuals.

The acting by all three main characters was tremendous, but particularly Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall had outstanding performances. This honestly may be Jack Nicholson's greatest performance, which is really saying something considering he's done an incredible job in so many other movies. The talents of Stanley Kubrick and cinematographer John Alcott are on full display in this movie.

They are just masters of their craft, and it is so evident. The many long, uninterrupted tracking shots that ramp up suspense in the eerie hallways of the Overlook Hotel. The scenes were just composed expertly, and it added to that growing sense of paranoia that you feel and highlighted the many intense and chaotic emotions of the characters.

Personally, I find isolation in and of itself to be terrifying, so this movie always really freaks me out. The movie really plays heavily on those fears and will likely leave you feeling a little bit anxious the next time you find yourself alone in a long hallway, especially if you're in an older hotel. Another aspect I love about this movie is how the perspective of each character is extremely scary for different reasons.

From Wendy's perspective, she's afraid of being trapped and alone in this hotel with her husband, who seems to increasingly have the potential to be violent with her and her son. From Danny's perspective, his abilities give him insight into the horrors of the hotel's past, which is already scary enough, but then he also has the visions of the future that depict his father committing horrific acts on his mother and himself. And from Jack's perspective, it's unbelievably scary to think about the possibility that you may be losing your mind and simultaneously be cut off from the outside world.

Also, the use of practical effects in this movie just creates amazing visuals that will again leave you terrified and haunted long after the movie ends. The film plays with so many different ideas and themes that I could probably do an hour-long video on it and barely scratch the surface, but ultimately, you just have to go watch the movie and enjoy it for yourself. I think this movie is a must-watch for any movie buff out there, but if you're a fan of horror and you have not seen The Shining, you absolutely have to stop what you're doing right now and go watch it.

Images from IMDb