Review of The Shining (1980) by Maineutral R — 01 Jul 2014

It is known that this adaptation tones down a lot the supernatural elements from Stephen King novel, transforming The Shining from a ghost story to a human insanity story...and I like human insanity better. The thing is this: a supernatural story often uses more visuals, while the human insanity requires less visuals and more "attitudes" to be executed. Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is actually a visual insanity film. It changes much from the book, but from the way I see it, it does it for the better of the story. That's what an adaptation does: change things but only if it makes the story better in any way, and this film surely does the rule in a 100%.

I think this is far superior to King's novel, as I felt a more believable story is more intriguing. When it comes to supernatural stuff, I like serious things, and this movie manages itself at such point. There are "ghosts" and other strange stuff, but only in the characters' minds. In the novel, it is obvious that the place is cursed, but it's better and scarier when it's all in the mind of characters that themselves can't tell the difference between imagination and realism. This is improving and adapting at its best, by the hand of Kubrick. Speaking of which, this film also includes all those Kubrick nods, like the long dolly shots, symmetric angles, wide-angles; all kinds of cinematography to engage you visually so it can engage you by character too. When it comes to Nicholson, I think he did a great performance, but I couldn't help but laugh at times when he's going nuts. Scary, it was, but also funny. Other than that, I think this is another great Kubrick masterpiece, and also a masterpiece in horror overall.

Kubrick once again shows he was the best in everything he could do. The film also has some symbolic stuff (that bear fellatio scene...) and I'm always a fan of that kind of movies, the difference is that this one is scary too. It created such a creepy environment that will always be in my memory as, well, the most memorable for inducing me at levels no other horror films had done. A movie that just gets better over the years.