The Shining (1980)

”All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Filmology Rating: 3.5 out of 4

Here is one of the best horror films ever! This is a Stanley Kubrick masterpiece. Not to confuse you with his other masterpieces. You should know the plot.

Here it is, the movie that was nominated for a Razzie and Steven Spielberg called it Jack Nicholson's "worst performance." That's how off-putting this film was when it came out. But is now considered a masterpiece of film.

This film is one of the better shot films ever made. With Stanley Kubrick, that's almost a given. From "2001: A Space Oddessey" to "Full Metal Jacket", Stanley Kubrick always delivers visually. And with this film, the way it is shot adds so much weight to the atmosphere this film creates.

The music can also be attritubed to that because this film offered a score that was mostly sounds and few instruments which adds to the uneasy atmosphere that the film sets.

Jack Nicholson's performance, can be described as almost baffling to the untrained eye because it's almost like he's in a film of his own to the point of it being borderline comedic and that's what is so frightening about him. Jack's slow turn into madness is marked by many odd lines of dialogue which just show how insane he really is. Jack Nicholson also delivers one of the best improvised lines in cinema, "Here's Johnny!" It's strange that Kubrick allowed that in the final cut because he is very strict on what he wants from his actors.

Shelly Duvall, who plays Jack's wife, gives a great performance and some people believe it is because of the abuse that she received on the set. Some people say it was because Kubrick wanted her mentally broken down like her character to give a realistic performance, but today, the way she was treated would not be allowed. Kubrick forced Shelly to do 127 takes of the same scene just to get the right shot and currently holds the record for the most shots taken for a single scene ever.

I think what makes the film so terrifying is that nobody truly knows what the film is about. Everyone has their own interpretations to what makes it terrifying and that's why it's such a masterpiece. The audience has different opinions on what is scary, which makes it universally frightening.

Rating: See It

-Nolan