Review of The Shining (1980) by Swati — 25 Nov 2013

Nicholson is predisposed to play such a character. The acting was just sufficient, nothing extraordinary. But there is no denying that it was a two and a half hour ride of pure thrilling scare after scare.

There were some great individual scenes, like the ones with the twins and the bathtub woman, but they felt very disjointed and did nothing to affect the plot. There were some great concepts, like Danny's alter ego, but they all came to nothing.

It could have been the greatest horror movie of all time, because at first glance it had all the ingredients to make one. I felt like the director wasn't sure if he believed in ghosts or not. The result wasn't very impressive. You either commit to that it was all in the brain and stick to the insanity spilling out of it accordingly, or you admit that it was all supernatural. Nevertheless, the build-up to the scares, and the scares themselves, and the subtle unsettling scenes with the twins, all combined to give the ultimate mind-boggling horror experience.

The second time I watched it, more flaws jumped at me. The individual scenes manage to enthral you, but when you take the time to reflect on it, the incoherence and the lack of flow in the story, the director's dilemma to whether stick with supernatural element and explore it, or the mental breakdown of the protagonist, becomes more visible, and the result isn't pretty at all.