THE SHINING (1980)

 

DIRECTED by Stanley Kubrick

SCREENPLAY by Stanley Kubrick & Diane Johnson based on the novel "The Shining" by Stephen King

STARRING - Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance

Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance

Danny Lloyd as Danny "Doc" Torrance

Scatman Crothers as Dick Hallorann

Barry Nelson as Stuart Ullman

Philip Stone as Delbert Grady

Joe Turkel as Lloyd

Anne Jackson as Doctor

Tony Burton as Larry Durkin

Lia Beldam as young woman in bath

Billie Gibson as old woman in bath

PLOT -  Recovering alcoholic novelist - Jack Torrence - gets a winter job as the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, a remote establishment with a blood soaked history.

It's Jack's task to maintain the upkeep of the hotel during the Winter months whilst the hotel is closed. Jack is accompanied by his wife Wendy and their young son - Danny.

Little does Jack know but his son possess a rare psychic ability known as "the Shining" which allows him to see the spirits of the dead whilst also giving him the ability to see future events. The various ghosts of the Overlook latch on to this ability and very soon they are plaguing Jack himself, causing him to spiral into homicidal madness.

All Jack wanted was to finish writing his latest book, now he wants to finish his family - after all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...

PERFORMANCES - Jack Torrence is played by none other than Jack Nicholson himself, giving what is probably one the most iconic performances of his career. 

It's not a subtle performance - in Stephen King's original novel Jack is a pretty nice chap to begin with. Ok, so he has a history of drinking and once accidently broke his son Danny's arm in a drunken rage, but it's something the character deeply regrets and wishes he could change. He's tortured by his own personal demons which is something the real demons which inhabit the Overlook use to thier advantage.

The movie Jack has the exact same backstory but to be quite honest he already seems as mad as a box of Frogs before he even gets within spitting distance of the evil hotel. Take his Job interview in the prologue - there already seems to be something just off about him - he sits there with this supercilious grin on his face the whole time. I guarantee anyone acting like that in a real life job interview would no way be hired. He also seems very terse and weird with his family when he's driving up to the hotel to start his work there. He's a far cry from the repentant "try hard" sort of bloke he is in the book.

Now, normally this would be a problem if an actor's performance deviated so wildly from the source material, but seeing an already clearly unhinged Jack Nicholson go even more BATSHIT INSANE is just so much fun to watch that you find you don't care. 

His actual rampage in the film's last act is as intense as it gets, and to make it even better it's absolutely chocked full of memorable, quotable lines - "I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm just gonna bash your brains in", "little pig, little pig - let me come in" and most iconic of all -"Heeeerrrreeee's Johnny !!!!!!". Jack is great.

Equally good is Shelly Duval as Wendy - Jack's tortured wife. She manages to look genuinely terrified throughout most of the film. Apparently, Stanley Kubrick drove her almost to breaking point by constantly mentally abusing her throughout the making of this film, just so that she'd feel hunted and downtrodden. It's a REALLY horrible way to get a performance out of someone but it definitely worked in this case.

 You've got to feel for poor old Shelly Duval - on the one hand she's being constantly bullied by the director and then she also has to deal with Jack Nicholson who apparently didn't break out of character throughout the making of the film. She really did get shafted on both sides - it's no wonder she later said that filming The Shining was one of the worst experiences of her life.

The supporting cast are top notch as well - Scatman Crothers as Dick Halloran - an ageing chef who acts as Danny's mentor (he also posseses the power of the Shining) is a lovely character that you really want to see survive the film (SPOILER - HE DOESN'T).  

Then we get Phillip Stone as Delbert Grady - he's the ghost of the previous caretaker who also went mad and killed his own family, he now acts as the "voice" of the Overlook Hotel and plays a big part in sending Jack over the edge. Grady is polite and well spoken but completely evil - he's like a psychotic butler who'd politely take your coat, serve you a G&T with Lime, graciously let you drink it in your own time and then proceed to throttle you to death...slowly.

Even Danny Lloyd as little Danny Torrence is good. Kids where usually terrible in late 70's/early 80's horror films but he gives a genuinely good performance, bless him.

SEX & VIOLENCE - The main sexual moment (if you can call it that) is when Jack goes into one of the hotel rooms and finds a beautiful naked woman having a bath, he promptly cops off with her (as you do when you walk uninvited into a naked lady's bathroom ) and she then proceeds to transform into an elderly zombie woman (which would DEFINITELY put you off your stroke).

And then there's this...

No...I'm not even going to attempt to describe what's happening here...

As for violence we get some gory looking ghosts..

But the most extreme moment is when Jack hacks poor old Halloran to death with a pickaxe.

Don't worry though Halloran fans, because Jack soon gets his comeuppance when he gets lost in the snowy maze outside and freezes to death overnight - leaving behind what is quite possibly the most pissed off looking corpse I've ever seen.

SFX - Low level gore, this one is more about mood and atmosphere over special effects wizardry.

RATING - The word "iconic" gets bandied about a lot these days but this film is iconic with a capital "I".

Everything about it oozes sheer class - the acting, the directing, the cinematography, the sheer unsettling mood that it grabs you with right from the opening credits. It's a ghost story, it's a metaphor about addiction, it's a perfect horror film.

It's all these things and more.

5 axe wielding alcoholics out of 5.

ART - 

Below - various editions of Stephen King's original novel (including the first edition which looks more like a romance novel judging by it's cover)...