Top 10 List (All-Time Faves): 5. The Shining (1980)

5. The Shining (1980)

My first introduction to the The Shining wasn't through the film or the original novel, but in fact through the standout segment of The Simpson's season six Treehouse of Horror, The Shinning - a true testament to the hand that the Simpsons had in raising my generation. From then it would still be another number of years before I finally saw Stanley Kubrick's coveted film that the show based their segment upon (and it was only recently that I finally got around to reading King's original novel).

It is now quite notoriously known that Stephen King did not particularly like Kubrick's film, as it changed a number of significant aspects and plot-points of the novel - the novel is more supernatural, as well, Jack's descent/motivations differ greatly between film and novel. Many fans took issue with King's position, arguing that the film was only an adaptation and not a literal translation; it was its own standalone entity, and a phenomenal one at that. It has only been quite recently that King has tempered his statements and given more credit to the film.

The Shining, in all ways, is very much a Kubrick film and one can find all of the director's trademarks throughout the film. One-point perspective and tracking shots (both found in the sequence of Danny riding on his tricycle through the hotel hallway), the Kubrick zoom (many examples: Jack in the main hall staring blankly, Danny playing darts, etc.) protracted sequences (Jack walking slowly through the hallway to the bar, becoming increasingly more unhinged along the way) and, of course, slow and tense pacing (well... the entire film really).

As everyone knows, the film is about a family stowed away in a remote luxury hotel in the Colorado Rockies, after the father, Jack Torrence, takes on an off-season custodial position there for the winter. Also, Jack is a recovering alcoholic as well as a aspiring writer (no doubt two self-referential themes for King). What ensues is a classic and horrifying story of cabin fever as Jack, fighting both the demons within himself as well as the ones lurking inside the hotel, descends slowly into madness. When it becomes clear that Jack has no chance of recovery, the story becomes a fight for survival for Jack's wife and son (who also possesses 'the shining' - telepathic abilities).

Such as in all of Kubrick's films, the directing, cinematography and editing here are each in their finest forms. It is perhaps the infinitely memorable performance by Jack Nicholson as Jack that makes the film most captivating. Kubrick, in all ways, unleashes the true limits of what Nicholson has to offer as Jack plummets further and further away from the green pastures of sanity. In particular, is the scene where Jack, wielding an imposing axe, chases his wife Wendy through the hotel. Here, Nicholson's body language takes hold of every ounce of mania that the actor possesses within, all of which leads to the infamous scene and (improvised) line, "Here's Jonny!".

The Shining is a horror classic and also one of the genre's best. It is a tense thrill-ride, cemented by one of the best directors and best actors of all time, creating at their highest-levels.