The Shining

A masterpiece. Kubrick chose a perfect cast and uses the timing and music to create a greatly opressing atmosphere. Nicholson is superb, but Duval and the kid are not less good.

This rum is red, man! In spite of author Stephen King not being happy with Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of his novel, The Shining (1980) has proved to be a critical and commercial darling. It may not be in the spirit that King wanted, but it's undeniably a skillful piece of film making, a mixture of beauty and terror, of bravura techniques and simple but effective scares. With quality acting performances to match as well. The story unfolds at a deliberately slow pace, claustrophobia oozes from practically every frame, while the narrative smarts brings to bear the ghosts of the human and…

Probably my favorite of the Stephen King adaptations (though not much for many of the others save for a one or two) but not amongst Stanley Kubrick's, watched this one for the first time in many years (maybe a decade) and while I did immensely enjoyed it, and really liked Nicholson towards the end, I never really bought into him early on. Still, atmospherically it was amazing and at times creepy. But can't place this as some sort of classic in my book, anyway. **4.0/5**

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog :) With Doctor Sleep, an almost 40-year sequel to The Shining, being released this week, now it’s the perfect time to revisit one of the greatest horror movies of all-time, as well as one of the most influential directors ever, Stanley Kubrick. I know, I know… Spoiler-free? For a movie released in 1980? Well, first of all, there’s always someone who still didn’t watch it. Secondly, as deeper we get into the 21st century, the more the 60s/70s/80s/90s movies are forgotten. And finally, if there’s a movie which I don’t need…