In honor of the witching season, we’ll profile a new Halloween-centric title every day throughout the month of October.
HERE’S JOHNNY!
Article by Adam Mast
THE SHINING (R)-1980
Ok, so…Let’s get it out of the way right up front. It’s been widely debated that this is more Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING then it is Stephen King’s THE SHINING, with the famed author himself having said on numerous occasions that Warner Brothers’ 1980 release is not really faithful to his book. A statement that’s backed up by the fact that King would eventually collaborate with Mick Garis on a t.v. adaptation of THE SHINING years later.
Quite frankly, I don’t care if this version of THE SHINING is faithful to King’s book or not. Don’t get me wrong, I love King and I love his book, but Kubrick’s take on THE SHINING scared the ever living shit out of me as a young man, and I positively love it for that! My grandmother took me to see it when I was 11 years old, and it freaked me out so bad, that she vowed to never take me to another horror movie again. Hell, THE SHINING still scares the shit out of me and I’m not so young anymore.
In THE SHINING, Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance reroutes his wife Wendy (a perfectly awkward Shelley Duvall) and young son Danny (an outstanding Danny Lloyd) to the massive, luxurious Overlook Hotel so that they might take care of the empty property over the course of a snow-filled winter. It also affords the writer in Jack time to work on his latest book with little distraction. Unfortunately for the off kilter family man, bad things occurred at the Overlook years earlier, and Jack gradually finds himself consumed by strange happenings at the property, most notably in Room 237.
Meanwhile, little Danny possesses a gift. A gift that hotel orderly Dick Hallorann (the great Scatman Crothers) refers to as the Shining. A gift that may ultimately save Danny and Wendy’s lives as Jack’s behavior becomes more and more volatile.
Jack Nicholson is a freak of nature in this picture. He’s chilling in ways that I find difficult to describe. This is a performance so rich, so nuanced, and so positively terrifying, that it has to be seen to be fully appreciated. True, Jack Torrance is a bit of an oddball to begin with, but there’s absolutely no doubt that Nicholson brings the fire in a big way. Whether he’s making out with a decrepit lady in a bathtub, intensely threatening his wife as she swings a bat at him, or chasing his little boy with an axe, Nicholson commands the screen like the seasoned pro he’s always been.
Of course, the true architect behind this legendary film is the late, great Stanley Kubrick. An absolute genius of a storyteller. By way of sound, score, production design, an eerie tone, and stellar performances, Kubrick manages to get the very best from those he brings to the creative table. What’s more, it should be noted that in this particular film, Kubrick treats his central location as a living, breathing entity. The Overlook Hotel isn’t merely a locale. It’s a lead character in what is arguably one of the great horror films of all time.
SPECIAL BONUS TRAILER! WATCH! YOU WONT BE DISAPPOINTED!
COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN
October 28th-“Alien” and “Aliens”– Click Here
October 27th-“The Cabin in the Woods”– Click Here
October 26th-“Blood-O-Ween”–Click Here
October 25th-“Horror-Fest/Guerilla 2015” Recap–Click Here
October 24th-“Jaws”– Click Here
October 23rd-“Frailty”– Click Here
October 22nd- “Psycho” – Click Here
October 21st-“Killer Klowns From Outer Space”– Click Here
October 20th- “Horrorfest 2015” – Click Here
October 19th- “Hocus Pocus” – Click Here
October 18th-“The Exorcist”– Click Here
October 17th-“Prince of Darkness”– Click Here
October 16th- “The Omen” – Click Here
October 15th-“Dawn of the Dead”– Click Here
October 14th- Student Bodies”–Click Here
October 13th-“Habit”–Click Here
October 12th- “The Twilight Zone” – Click Here
October 11th- “Creepshow” – Click Here
October 10th-“Shaun of the Dead“-Click Here
October 9th-“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”– Click Here
October 8th-“The Final Girls”–Click Here
October 7th-“Something Wicked This Way Comes”–Click Here
October 6th- “We Are Still Here”–Click Here
October 5th-“Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn”–Click Here
October 4th- “Phantom of the Paradise“-Click Here
October 3rd-“Poltergeist“-Click Here
October 2nd-“The Babadook“-Click Here
October 1st-“John Carpenter’s The Thing“-Click Here
About Author
