The Shining (1980)
Average Rating: 8.4/10
Reviews Counted: 62
Fresh: 56 | Rotten: 6
Though it deviates from Stephen King's novel, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is a chilling, often baroque journey into madness -- exemplified by an unforgettable turn from Jack Nicholson
Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 4
Though it deviates from Stephen King's novel, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is a chilling, often baroque journey into madness -- exemplified by an unforgettable turn from Jack Nicholson
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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 423,027
Movie Info
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" -- or, rather, a homicidal boy in Stanley Kubrick's eerie 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel. With wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and psychic son Danny (Danny Lloyd) in tow, frustrated writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes a job as the winter caretaker at the opulently ominous, mountain-locked Overlook Hotel so that he can write in peace. Before the Overlook is vacated for the Torrances, the manager (Barry Nelson) informs Jack that a
May 23, 1980 Wide
Jun 29, 1999
Warner Bros. Pictures
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Cast
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Jack Nicholson
Jack Torrance -
Shelley Duvall
Wendy Torrance -
Danny Lloyd
Danny Torrance -
Scatman Crothers
Dick Hallorann -
Barry Nelson
Ullman -
Philip Stone
Grady -
Anne Jackson
Doctor -
Joe Turkel
Lloyd -
Tony Burton
Durkin -
David Baxt
Forest Ranger 1 -
Lia Beldam
Young Woman in Bathtub -
Lisa Burns
Grady Daughter -
Barry Dennen
Watson -
Robin Pappas
Nurse -
Manning Redwood
Forest Ranger -
Jana Sheldon
Stewardess -
Burnell Tucker
Policeman -
Norman Gay
Injured Guest -
Billie Gibson
Old Woman in Bathtub
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The Shining Trailer & Photos
All Critics (62) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (6) | DVD (28)
Kubrick has made a movie that will have to be reckoned with on the highest level.
Top CriticAs a ghost story and adaptation of the Stephen King novel, it's largely a failure. On the other hand, as an example of directorial bravura and as a study of madness and the unreliable narrator, it's a brilliant success.
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.
The movie is not about ghosts but about madness and the energies it sets loose in an isolated situation primed to magnify them.
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.
Kubrick's unbalanced approach (over-emphasis on production values) results in soulless cardboard cutouts who can do little to generate audience empathy.
The first time I saw Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, I had to turn it off during three key moments... Perhaps this time, I prayed, [it] would seem almost comically silly. Yeah, not so much.
...above all a movie about spaces, and how few things are more frightening than not knowing which way to go.
A feeling of deep-rooted evil runs through every frame in mesmerising fashion. Hell, even the dizzyingly-patterned carpets are somewhat hypnotic.
Strange and deeply creepy.
The technique is as overpowering as Nicholson's performance, which is both hammy and deeply disturbing.
Kubrick's compositions and Jack Nicholson going kill-crazy with an axe remain hard to beat on the big screen.
It's all in the build-up: Kubrick sets the scene for the horror with meticulous care.
Re-cut or not, The Shining remains one of the most viscerally disturbing films ever made.
Deeply scary and strange.
Essential viewing. Prepare to be disturbed.
Its artful ambiguities are immersive. Check in.
As in 2001, Kubrick likes ghost stories more than I do. And he gives me enough else, in the way of acting and bizarrely beautiful surroundings, to keep me happy.
Stanley Kubrick's film is a work of art that will continue to be broken down and explored for decades to come...
Kubrick doesn't dumb it down or anything, but he's not actively trying to appeal only to film connoisseurs either. If any of his movies could be called mainstream, it's this one.
The Shining is an intense and not always ingratiating experience, a natural bookend to 2001...
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.
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.
It's arguably the talented director's least appealing film, as it feels empty and soulless.
Audience Reviews for The Shining
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Jack Torrance: Here's Johnny!
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- Jack Torrance: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
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- Jack Torrance: Here's Johnny!
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- Jack Torrance: HERE'S JOHNNY!
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- Danny Torrance: [as Tony] Danny isn't here, Mrs. Torrance. Danny has gone away.
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- Dick Hallorann: How'd you like some ice cream, doc?
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Dave Kher = banishment | 2 months ago | 2 |
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Movie: ID: 14884 Title: The Shining Release Date: 1980-05-23 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- The Shining (DE)
- The Shining (UK)
The most beautiful horror film I've seen.