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While watching The Shining (1980) last night, a couple of things were impressed upon me...the first thing is that Shelly Duvall is one creepy looking woman, what with those humongous horse teeth, gigantic peepers, and abnormally large ears (I kept expecting her to say something like `Take me to your leader..'). The other thing is it seems regardless of the scariest, twisted, most frightening, and just generally demented nightmare I could conceive either while sleeping or awake, there will always be someone out there to top it, and even perhaps, commit it to film, as is the case here. Based on a novel by Stephen King, adapted and directed for the screen by Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange), the film stars Jack `I like `em young' Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), Shelley Duvall (Popeye), and young Danny Lloyd in his first onscreen role. Also appearing is Benjamin Sherman `Scatman' Crothers (Bronco Billy), Barry Nelson (Airport), Philip Stone (A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon), and Joe Turkel (Blade Runner).
As the film begins we're treated to some amazing shots of snow-capped mountains and lush valleys taken from a helicopter as we follow a car along a winding mountain road. The scene ends upon a grand, somewhat elegant looking structure we will soon learn is called the Overlook Hotel, an extremely isolated retreat for people who have a lot more money than I do...here we meet Jack Torrance (Nicholson), and he's interviewing for the position of caretaker as the hotel prepares to close its doors for the winter (they need someone to stay on for the five month duration to keep up the place). Jack's eager to get the job (and he does), as it will allow for him to have the time to work on his writing. Jack returns with his family, including wife Wendy (Duvall), and their son Danny (Lloyd), along with Danny's imaginary friend Tony (Danny's got some kind of `special' abilities of an extra sensory sort, which tend to channel through his finger, and he' come to know as Tony). The family settles in, and things seem to be going well enough until Jack begins to develop writer's block along with a touch of the `cabin fever', and a massive snowstorm settles into the area, further isolating the Torrances from the outside world. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, it seems the hotel had some `unpleasantness' in the past as a previous caretaker also suffered a bout of the winter blues (nowadays we'd call it seasonal affective disorder) and did some very nasty things to his family...and then I should probably also mention that the hotel, which was built in the early 1900's, occupies land that used to be Native American burial grounds, obviously without their permission.
I used to read a lot of Stephen King books back in the day, and I've always felt The Shining not only managed to stay pretty close to the source material (keeping and focusing on the important elements), but also reflected much of what made that story so damn scary (the main idea is that psychic activity may not only be inherent in certain individuals, but also places). Now I know author King disagreed with director Kubrick on a number of things (King wanted someone like Jon Voight or Michael Moriarty instead of Nicholson), but given the thoughtful meticulousness of Kubrick as a director, I'm glad King wasn't able to impress upon Kubrick to alter his vision of how the film should look or play out. King's a great writer, but his directorial skills leave something to be desired (as displayed in the 1986 bomb Maximum Overdrive, which King took on the directorial reins stating that `If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself'...whatever dude). The film is filled with wonderful shots featuring interesting angles and unique points of view (the shot with Jack in the freezer, leaning against the door talking to Wendy is inspired) that work amazingly well to foster a sense of claustrophobia in a place that's anything but...some might say the pacing of the film is slow, but I'd characterize it as antagonizing and deliberate, as it takes roughly an hour and 45 minutes before we begin to see the horror appear in more overt forms, specifically Jack becoming more and more unhinged. This role is characterized as a `signature' role for Nicholson (a role he'll always be known as, much like Voight and the character of Joe Buck or Deniro as Travis Bickle), and while the over the top performances by Nicholson are what gets noticed, watch the quieter scenes for some of the most chilling parts as we see his character desperately struggling to maintain his tenuous grip despite the forces piled against him. Duvall does an amazing job here, especially the scenes where she has to react as the situation continually deteriorates. I also thought Danny Lloyd served the film extremely well, helping to create some of the truly shocking and unnerving moments. Other elements that work so well throughout are the eerie music, the beautiful and elegant sets (the interiors were shot on an English soundstage), and the very realistic dialog featuring many memorable lines.
The picture on this DVD is presented in fullscreen format (1.37:1), which is representative of the aspect ratio of the original camera negative as intended by the director, and the sound comes through clearly in Dolby Digital 5.1. There are a couple of extras including an original theatrical trailer and a making of featurette by Vivian Kubrick with optional commentary. Is this the most frightening film I've ever seen? No...that honor would have to go to The Exorcist (1973), but this one is certainly in the top five, and may cause a sleepless night or two. By the way, make sure you have a couple of hours before watching this film as it runs nearly two and a half hours, but it's worth it as not a single moment is wasted.
Cookieman108
By the way, does anyone know where I can get some of those lovely, velvety paintings of nekkid, nubile Nubians featured on the walls of Scatman Crothers characters Florida residence? I'm thinking of sprucing up the old homestead, and they're just what I'm looking for...
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2001 DVD vs 2007 DVD
I own both the 2001 and 2007 DVDs of this film. I really don't have any interest is who is 'right' with the aspect ratio argument, I compared both versions and found that you're missing some of the video image regardless of which version you buy. I took screenshots of both DVDs and overlayed them on top of each other. I found that with the 2001 release, you get the 1:33:1 aspect ratio where the far left and right of the screen image is clipped. With the 2007 release, you get the 1.78:1 aspect ratio where the top and bottom of the screen image is clipped off. You can see what I mean by viewing the 'customer image' I posted, above. The blue border is for the 2001 release and the red border is the 2007 release.Both DVDs are 'digitally restored and remastered', however the 2007 release is noticeabley brighter and more vivid. The 2001 image seems faded and dull.This release has all the other special features of the 2001 DVD release, with the addition of optional commentary by Garrett Brown and John Baxter and three new featurettes.
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- Dietmar T.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2013
Shining - US import DVD
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