The Shining

             Stephen King is a very prolific author. He has written over 45 novels and numerous collections of short stories, many of which have been made into films and even television shows. One of his more popular books is The Shining which was made into a 1980 film starring Jack Nicholson. The film has had mixed reactions. For example, Stephen King himself has said that he hated this adaption of his novel; whereas other horror movie fans love the movie calling it a classic. But why do some people passionately love the movie, while others simply hate it? What was so bad about the film that Stephen King actually spoke out against it? For that matter what was so good about the movie that anyone would want to see it more than once? I hope to answer these questions and more in this following review.

           First of all, who is the target audience of The Shining? The target audience is not necessarily the fans of the book. In fact one might argue that not reading the book leads to a better enjoyment of the movie, but that is another issue altogether. The target audience is most likely those who enjoy psychological thrillers with a supernatural twist. A positive note about the film is that it certainly does not pander to a particular group of people, nor does it change the story to try to appeal to a broader audience. Because of this, it is well loved by people looking for a more original storyline than a bland Hollywood horror movie.

           Now, if you haven't read the book, you might be wondering what The Shining is about. The basic plot is fairly simple. Jack Nicholson plays a seemingly sane man called Jack Torrance who, at the beginning of the movie accepts a job as the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. A secluded, yet scenic, hotel up in the mountains. Rumors abound of the hotel being haunted, especially considering the actions of the previous caretaker, who brutally murdered his wife and two daughters. None of this deters Jack, however, as he is simply looking for some peace and quiet in which he can finally settle down and have some time for his writing. Jack brings along his wife Wendy and his son Danny. Danny is a young boy who has telepathic powers. Both of his parents are vaguely aware of this ability, but choose to ignore it. As time progresses in the Overlook Hotel, Jack's behavior grows increasingly more erratic and occasionally even violent. It is unclear whether this is due to ghosts of previous residents that have evil intentions, or if it is simply delusional schizophrenia brought upon by claustrophobic sense of isolation. Either way it becomes clear that the Torrance's stay at the Overlook Hotel will not be quite as peaceful as anticipated.

      So why is this film hated so much that even the author of the original novel spoke poorly of it? One major issue with the film, as with most film adaptions of popular novels, it fails to capture the spirit of the original story. In the book there was a lot more done with the psychic powers of Danny, which admittedly is hard to do in a movie. Even so, the film sort of adds the telepathy as an afterthought, serving no real purpose other than exposition. There are many scenes in the book that are truly creepy, like the hedges coming alive and attacking Jack, that are completely left out of the movie. Also in the book Danny has much more of a personality than the flat two-dimensional character in the movie.

       However, a great deal of these criticisms are comparing the movie to the book. Some might argue this to be unfair, as some have never read the book nor have any intention of reading the book. Even standing by itself, the movie has some faults.  In my opinion the casting of Jack Nicholson in the lead role was a mistake. He does an excellent job of portraying a frightening madman, and perhaps that is his fault. In my opinion, Jack Nicholson does a poor job of playing a loving family man and the mental breakdown that follows is easy to spot from a mile away. I appreciate the idea of showing that the Overlook does not create mental instability, but only feeds and encourages that which is already there; but Jack Nicholson lacks any subtlety in his performance, playing his character as a man of questionable sanity to begin with, who only gets worse. However, this may be partially due to Jack's natural face. Anyone who has seen Jack Nicholson in a film, is aware of the rather creepy smile that he is able to produce no matter which film he is in, and the very distinct way that he raises his eyebrows. Also, the film moves agonizingly slow with a great deal of meaningless shots and wasted footage. Some may argue that this feeds into the movie's creepy vibe and actually  improved the movie altogether. It is nice to have a movie that doesn't pander to the 5 second attention span of modern audiences and actually takes time to build suspense rather than relying on cheap jump scares. However, a great deal of the movie doesn't build suspense so much as leave the viewer with an overwhelming feeling of boredom.

          So if the movie has all these faults, then why is it so popular that some people view this movie as a classic? Despite all its shortcomings, the film is actually quite creepy overall. The film does tone down the supernatural element of the book, leaving a wider possibility open for the entire film being nothing but a mental breakdown. It is a well known fact that a mentally unstable character is a lot scarier than a character controlled by vague unexplained supernatural forces. It is scarier because it is closer to reality and more likely to happen. Sure he does see 'ghosts', but he also talks to them with a sort of familiarity that seems somewhat odd for never having met any of them. My favorite character of the entire film is Brady, the former caretaker of the Overlook. He starts out as a seemingly innocent butler, but soon turns into the most devious character of the entire film, as he is slowly persuading Jack to kill his wife and child. Overall the film sets itself apart from other generic horror films of the 80's by actually being interesting and truly eerie at points.

        Thanks to the vague meaning of an R rating, the R rating of this movie is not quite the warning that is necessary for a movie like this. There is one scene in particular where Jack goes to investigate room 237 and runs into a woman who appears to be a playboy model, judging by the amount skin she decides to reveal. Now even if this sounds entertaining to you, I feel it only fair to warn you that this is the single most disturbing scene in the entire movie, due to the horrifying visual of this ghost's true form. There is some very strong profanity in this film and it is infrequent enough that it is very noticeable when it does show up. Surprisingly, enough there is very little actual violence in this movie, there are a few dead bodies here and there; but compared to modern horror films that seek only shock with gore, this movie is actually quite tame. In fact, I have seen PG-13 rated movies with greater amounts of violence and gore. The movie is actually more scary without resorting to cheap tricks and violence simply for the sake of violence. Although it may sound strange, a violent nature is actually more frightening than continuous violent actions.

            If you are a fan of the Stephen King novel and are hoping for a faithful recreation, you will be greatly disappointed. However, if you are fan of the film-making style of Stanley Kubrick, then this movie might be enjoyable to you. The Shining is a movie that is revered as a classic by many who see it, but I am not one of those people. In my opinion, the departures from Stephen King's novel actually make the movie less enjoyable as does the incredibly slow pacing of the movie. The overacting of Jack Nicholson and the underacting of Danny Loyd (Danny) make the movie less realistic and almost silly. On the other hand, the movie actually does have some legitimately scary moments at times. While not the best movie based on a Stephen King story, it is certainly not the worst. If you enjoy deep psychological thrillers, and horror movies that refuse to stay within the bounds of generic horror movies, then this might be a film worth checking out. But if you don't like scary movies, movies that move amazingly slow, or young sensuous playboy models that turn into old wrinkled ghosts and attack Jack Nicholson, then perhaps this movie isn't for you. In the end some may call The Shining a classic, but in my opinion, there are much better films out there than this.