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The Shining (1980






With the Shining celebrating its 45th Anniversary, it felt like a great opportunity to watch this classic at the cinema. There is a documentary which serves as a very good companion piece exploring all the theories associated with this film which range from good to downright ridiculous. The movie sees Jack Nicholson play Jack Torrance who takes on a job as a caretaker of the Overlook Hotel during the winter months so that he can write his novel. Things seem to go strange quite quickly though and it becomes a fight between Jack and Wendy.

As the movie progresses things get very bleak and one of the things that I do like about this film is that it’s very well shot. The claustrophobic feel of the latter half of the film adds an extra layer of tension to what was already a tense film. It really doesnt take long for the strange vibe to start as it starts from the flying over the lake then there are the continuous shot of following Danny around on his little bike. 

In the past I would have said that I could have done without Wendy because even though she’s suppose to be in terror at what her husband has turned into and I just found myself being slightly bored by her. As the years and rewatches have gone by I still find portions of Shelley Duvall’s acting to be a little ropey but overall I have changed my opinion of her performance. Nicholson is in fine form here and pretty much steals the film. Every time he was on screen he was in complete control and every time he wasn’t on screen, I took this as an opportunity to take a mental breather and wait for the next time and that was probably a wise thing to do. The infamous ‘here’s Johnny’ line was exactly as good every single time I hear it. There is a reason why it's iconic and it's because it’s truly terrifying.

As a movie, I thought that it was brilliant. One of the best horror films ever made because no matter how many times I have seen this film I am totally engaged with what is happening. It’s very tense and very well acted and also I liked the story. This was the first time that I saw it at the cinema and the big screen is the perfect place and the version I saw was apparently the American cut because there were a couple of things that were new such as the extended doctor scene with Wendy and the shot of the skeletons sitting in the reception area at the hotel. There are probably more but they dont come to mind. If you ever get the chance to see this film on the big screen then you should because its makes the film even better.




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