39 Days to Halloween- 1980 The Shining

Over the next 100 days, I will present one movie of significances in horror, suspense or thrillers for each year from 1919 to 2018. The next film presented here is 1980 horror movie "The Shining" starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd and directed by Stanley Kubrick.

The Shining (1980)

Dir- Stanley Kubrick

As a filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick is one of the best and when you team him with an outstanding novel by horror writer Stephen King you have a film that will set a place in cinema history. Before I go any further I would like to add that it is so weird how this film seems to have such a strong response from the horror community, the film is either loved or greatly loathed. Jack Nicholson is a school teacher turned writer named Jack who takes a job as a caretaker of a Colorado resort. He takes his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and 5-year-old boy Danny (Danny Lloyd) along looking forward to the peace and solitude the resort will offer. Along the way, they meet Scatman Crothers, who works as a cook, explains the finer points of the hotel and develops a bond with the son. The boy learns of his special gift, The Shine, the ability to communicate without words. It is this psychic sense that gives the young boy fears that his father may hurt his mother and himself. As the days go by, and the snow falls we witness Jack spending hours typing away, at the same time his son has some bizarre psychic revelations. Kubrick, who uses his common theme of dehumanization and alienation, handles the eventual breakdown most uniquely; Jack has many bizarre visions and begins to feel the hotel possessing him. Will he fall into total madness or will he be able to take back control before he kills his family? There are many arguments over whether this film captures the true spirit of the novel or does it simply allow Kubrick to indulge in his story about man's role as a murderer and our inability to escape it. You can argue either side and all of this seems to distract from the film that is outstanding on its right.