The Shining

The Shining Genre: Horror Photography: Color Running Time: 144 minutes Country: United States Release Date: May 23, 1980 Directed by: Stanley Kubrick Written by: Diane Johnson Distributed by: Warner Bros. Starring: Jack Nicholson Shelley Duvall

The Shining is a 1980 horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. The film is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name.

Summary

The Torrance family head to the isolated Overlook Hotel for the winter where an evil spiritual presence influences the father, Jack, to go on a murder spree, while his psychic son, Danny, sees horrific forebodings from the past and future.

Why It Rocks

1. Well-done acting, especially from Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall.
2. Good-to-passable casting choices.
3. Interesting characters, such as Danny Torrance and Dick Hallorann, with their psychic powers called "The Shining".
4. Impressive cinematography for the early 80s.
5. Amazing character development, especially with Jack Torrance.
6. Many unforgettable scary scenes, such as the iconic scene where Danny encountering the ghost of identical twins down a long corridor and Jack getting attacked by a rotting naked woman.
7. Excellent jump scares.
8. Memorable quotes and iconic dialogue, such as "Redrum! Redrum! Redrum!" and "HERE'S JOHNNY!".
9. A couple of creative adjustments from Stephen King's novel that benefit the film.
10. Amazing designs, effects and appearances for the spirits in the Overlook Hotel.

Bad Qualities

1. Stephen King (the author of the book the film was based on) despises this film as it wasn't really loyal to how he pictured "The Shining" in his book.
2. While Shelley Duvall's performance was great, she wasn't a good casting choice as she doesn't resemble the Wendy Torrance from the book.
3. Kubrick was extremely abusive towards Duvall. Her stress got so bad, her hair fell out during production (some she would give to Kubrick). Her torment definitely showed on screen.

Trivia

• Stanley Kubrick reportedly shot one scene in the movie 127 times in order to get it right.