The Shining

Of late I have been seeing a lot of old movies. “The Shining” has been one of the finest movie I have seen to date. The movie is an adaptation on Stephen King’s novel. Though I have not seen all the movies of Jack Nicholson, but I guess this should be one of his best performances.

The plot: Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) agrees to take care of a remote hotel over the winter months, when it is completely closed to visitors. It is virtually cut off from the rest of the world of 5 months. Jack looking for solitude to write his new book, thinks this is the most suitable places and decides to move in with his family. The hotel is haunted by the family of the previous caretaker. The movie revolves around the breakdown of Jack in this environment.

It is a horror movie, released in 1980, in the pre animation/pre special effects era. The movie starts off with a long drive to the remote hotel. The images are truly breathtaking. This movie is considered to be one of the scariest movies ever to be made and what makes it so scary – not gory images or special effects. It’s the surrounding, the cold and dark winter, the loneliness of the place, the amazing cinematography, the settings, and the sheer acting skills of Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd (his son) and Shelley Duvall (his wife). The music of the film is like the icing on the cake – truly brilliant. The claustrophobic nature of the movie gave me goose bumps more than ones.. may be more than 10 times. The set is flawless – those huge hotel rooms, kitchens, the maze everything is perfect – just amazing.

Danny’s tricycle rides around the hotel and his run in the Maze are the best parts of the movie. Jacks facial expression and the depth in his role impresses at lot.

I would rate this movie 10/10 and if you haven’t seen the movie yet – rush to you DVD rental guy and get one today, or else download it like me :) .

But I wouldn’t say that this is the scariest movie. My choice is “Exorcist”. I used to stay in hostel when I watched this movie. For weeks after I saw that movie, I wouldn’t walk in the hostel corridors without lights and used to sleep with my room lights on :( .