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The Shining

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The Shining (1980)

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Reviews Counted:47

Fresh:41

Rotten:6

Average Rating:7.9/10

Runtime: 3 hrs

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: Opening with spectacular aerial shots of a beautiful, mountainous landscape, Stanley Kubrick's horror classic THE SHINING sucks the viewer into his frightening tale with quiet, relaxing... Opening with spectacular aerial shots of a beautiful, mountainous landscape, Stanley Kubrick's horror classic THE SHINING sucks the viewer into his frightening tale with quiet, relaxing visuals--but the ominous soundtrack warns that all is not right at the gorgeous Overlook Hotel. Based on Stephen King's best-selling novel, the film stars Jack Nicholson at his eyebrow-raising best in his portrayal of Jack Torrance, a Vermont schoolteacher working at the Overlook as a winter caretaker. The glorious early-20th century resort only operates in warm weather because the snowy roads deny access in the colder months, so Jack brings his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), with him, as well as his young son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), who possesses some unique psychic powers. As the Torrances settle in for the long, lonely months ahead, strange, unexplainable things start occurring in the hotel--and in every scene Jack seems to be growing a little more evil and dangerous.... Cinematographer John Alcott (who also worked on BARRY LYNDON and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) allows his Steadicam to float eerily through the deserted halls and corridors of the hotel, creating a creepy air of tension as Jack plummets into madness. Kubrick's obsessive eye for detail is prevalent throughout; the famous scene where Danny rides his toy buggy through the hotel is remarkable for Alcott's gliding camerawork and the desolate sound of the wheels alternately scraping across the hardwood and carpeted floors. Nicholson and Duvall are outstanding throughout, with both actors running the full gamut of human emotions as the film races towards a thrilling conclusion. Supplemented by an oddball cast of dead twin girls, suicidal ax-murdering ghosts, Scatman Crothers as the hotel cook, and many other weird and wonderful figures, Kubrick's film is a pulse-racing treat that is among the best in his inimitable body of work. [More]

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Story: Stephen King
Screenwriter: Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson

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Release:

Feb 2, 2010

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

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Reviews for The Shining

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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The Shining is an intense and not always ingratiating experience, a natural bookend to 2001...

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/13/09
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
04/30/09
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The result may not quite match Kubrick's greatest films, but it is enthralling and hypnotic - a brilliant, ambitious attempt to shoot a horror film without the Gothic trappings.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
02/03/09
Steve Biodrowski
Steve Biodrowski
ESplatter

The Shining met the fate of several other Stanley Kubrick films when it came out; most viewers did not like it, so they rejected it. Most importantly, they did not understand it in any way which allowed them to deal with it constructively.

Full Review Source: tonymacklin.net | comment Comment
02/02/09
Tony Macklin
Tony Macklin
tonymacklin.net

It's arguably the talented director's least appealing film, as it feels empty and soulless.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment 2 Comments
04/24/08
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

It's the experience more so than the actual content of The Shining that radiates cold, anti-humanly indifferent terror.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
11/19/07
Eric Henderson
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine
N/R

Ostensibly a haunted house story, it manages to traverse a complex world of incipient madness, spectral murder and supernatural visions... and also makes you jump.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/19/07
Ian Nathan
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine

One of the late 20th century's finest tales of the supernatural and a justly famous classic.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/19/07
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Kubrick is after a cool, sunlit vision of hell, born in the bosom of the nuclear family, but his imagery -- with its compulsive symmetry and brightness -- is too banal to sustain interest, while the incredibly slack narrative line forestalls suspense.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 11 Comments
05/08/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie is not about ghosts but about madness and the energies it sets loose in an isolated situation primed to magnify them.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
05/08/07
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With remarkable visual panache and a keen sense of irony, Stanley Kubrick rehabilitates Stephen King's trashy, terrifying novel.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment 1 Comment
05/08/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With everything to work with, director Stanley Kubrick has teamed with jumpy Jack Nicholson to destroy all that was so terrifying about Stephen King's bestseller.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 13 Comments
05/08/07
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Kubrick's mostly riveting attempt to rewrite the conventions of the horror genre

Full Review Source: Cinemania | comment 1 Comment
03/12/06
Dan Jardine
Dan Jardine
Cinemania

Kubrick's unbalanced approach (over-emphasis on production values) results in soulless cardboard cutouts who can do little to generate audience empathy.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment 7 Comments
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out

Kubrick's use of space and the eerie steadycam have never been put to better use.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
12/06/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Kubrick's spellbinding 1980 horror epic is one of the true masterpieces to come out of the genre. And Nicholson's descent into unbridled insanity is simply unforgettable.

comment 1 Comment
10/21/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

I fear all work and no play has made Stanley a dull boy.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment 4 Comments
03/07/05
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

If Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is not the best haunted house movie ever made, it is certainly among the most intricately constructed.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
11/01/04
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

"Here's Johnny!" ... Kubrick's grandiose Jack-in-a-box shocker is a fright, but it's hardly up to his earlier brilliance.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
08/25/04
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

Splendid intellectualized version of King's book. Kubrick at his very best.

comment Comment
03/09/04
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
 
 
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