The Shining

To me, this is the ultimate scary movie. It scares you, but in a clever way. It's somewhat of a mixture of a psychological thriller and horror flick. Unlike many scary movies, you never know what's coming next. It just gets more and more weird, and more and more scary. I don't know if I would ever feel comfortable in Jack Nicholson's presence after watching this.

Nicholson takes a job managing a hotel that is closed down for the winter and moves in with his wife and son. He's a writer and figures he can get paid for watching the place, but also get his novel written. He just starts to lose it more and more throughout the film. The one thing I always remember that was the most scary isn't him axing through a door saying, "Here's Johnny," or the little boy writing murder backwards on the wall. It's Nicholson sitting down at his typewriter to write, then typing pages and pages of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." When his wife finds it, and realizes he's losing it, I get chills.

I think the first time I saw this movie I was twelve and I was terrified. I couldn't sleep that night because of it. When I recently watched it again I found it .... beautiful with its lunacy and chaos. A masterpiece from the ingenious Stanley Kubrick, roughly based on the novel by Stephen King. Yes, roughly. The movie is quite different from the book and I would suggest die hard fans of the novel to be aware they might miss some moments from the book. Nevertheless, I believe that the spirit and atmosphere are there to make you feel isolated and scared in the nothingness.
The movie focuses on the family of Jack Torrence, brilliantly played by Jack Nicholson, who is assigned to watch over a hotel for five months. The place turns out to be haunted and soon starts to poison the minds of its few inhabitants. The place looks amazing - vast, spacious, twisted and beautiful. A perfect setting for a terrifying story. We quickly start to feel isolated, alone in the mountains, berried under the snow. And there, the evil that has been nested in the heart of the hotel, starts to lure the family into madness.
As I said Jack Nicholson delivers yet another great performance, ensuring his A-list status in Hollywood. His madness escalates through the entire movie, making us terrified but at the same time amazed at his skills. The supporting cast is also as strong but I think they simply amplify Jack's character, making him look even more insane.
Kubrick delivers another classic with his masterful direction. Suspense, drama, horror, thriller, it's all there and it even look gorgeous. A masterpiece that will be remembered and will capture the imagination of the generations to come. Highly recommended for people who like psychological thrillers or are just looking for a good suspenseful horror film that doesn't rely only on cheap scares.

The Shining is a 1980 horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. The film stars Jack Nicholson as tormented writer Jack Torrance, Shelley Duvall as his wife, Wendy, and Danny Lloyd as their son, Danny. Jack Torrance takes his family to the Overlook Hotel over the winter. Jack becomes the caretaker for the hotel. The hotel was built on the site of an Indian burial ground. Throughout the movie Jack Torrance keeps having thoughts about killing his wife and son. I think this movie is definitely one of the best horror movies ever made. I give it 5 stars.