The Shining: 6/10

I haven't read the book before and, until tonight, I hadn't watched the film either. I had always been intrigued by it; many recommend it as one of the greatest horror films of all time. Therefore, it is safe to say that I sat down tonight with rather high expectations. Perhaps they were too high, or maybe I would have been better off reading the book instead.

The performances are a mixed bag. Nicholson superbly plays Jack Torrance's descent into madness, whilst Lloyd does an impressive job with young Danny. Duvall as Wendy is a bit of a mess, and almost makes the whole thing comical. I would have liked to seen more of Dick Halloran, but to no avail.

Maybe it's because the times have changed, or perhaps more modern horrors capture what I crave most; sadly I just didn't find The Shining all that scary, or intriguing. What with such an abrupt ending, you can only wish that the producers had stuck a bit more closer to the book.

Shelley Duvall's character was a mess but I think that was more down to writing rather than her acting. Having both read the book and watched the film, the character of Wendy in the book is written as a beautiful, blonde woman who hadn't really faced any problems in her life, which makes her experience at the hotel all the more scarier. In the film, she seems more emotionally vulnerable. Plus she's much stronger in the book as opposed to the film and she challenges Jack on several occasions whereas in the film all she does is scream and cry.

I still don't mind her character in the film though.

Shade at the time she knocked him out and locked him in the pantry?

Chill your beans babes I was getting ****ed up

That's a funny thank you for reviving your dead thread :idc:

:joker:

I wont watch because I honestly can't stand Shelley Duvall in the movie - she utterly ruins it for me and I've tried twice. It actually annoys me how much credit she gets for her shocking performance.

Jack Nicholson was outstanding and i understand why he gets critical acclaim but its just a film I cant enjoy because of Duvall.

5/10

(Could have been much higher with a better actress in the role of Wendy)

Thank you for all the reviews so far! Will post my review in a bit!

The Shining - 9/10

It's almost the perfect horror movie for me. I've seen it countless times and it's never lost it's impact when I watch it. It's genuinely creepy throughout and at no point resorts to cheap scares/shocks to keep things moving. The music score, direction, and central performances all lend to the atmosphere of it and it builds perfectly, there's no jump where Jack suddenly turns crazy, it's crafted thoughtfully and paced beautifully and deserves a great deal of credit for achieving all of that.

I absolutely love Shelley Duvall's performance of Wendy, and the scene where she's holding the baseball bat and backing away from Jack while he's intimidating her is one of my favourite scenes of any film. The character isn't portrayed as a typical horror heroine and it's quite an unusual performance she gives so I get why it doesn't appeal to everyone, but I don't think that's a sign of bad acting, and it just really appeals to me personally. (Maybe it's the fact she runs like Phoebe Buffay idk.)
Jack Nicholson is fantastic also, I really can't imagine anyone else pulling off his role and have it be as effective.

The final scenes are some of the most frantic and intense of any horror movie and I felt completely invested in them and i think that's due to the build up being executed so superbly and the development of the relationships between the characters. It's not just a bunch of teenagers running away from a faceless knife wielding killer (no shade at Scream - I love those movies too) but this is kind of on another level to that for me because so much of the story is devoted to 'the killer' and his descent, and I always feel more emotionally involved with the characters when I watch the Shining, than I do most other horror movies, which makes the threat greater and the film scarier for me.

I wish that Halloran had a more prominent role in the final act though. I feel like there was a lot of build up with him first of all sensing trouble due to his 'shining', then the phone calls, and seeing him on the plane etc, I mean all of that just to see him enter the hotel and immediately get an axe to the chest. That's always a big disappointment and it's the film's main downside for me, that and the fact there are other horror's I enjoy more is why I give it a 9.


On the book, my opinion is that it's even better than the film, so if you haven't read it and are at all interested in the story after watching the movie then I highly recommend it! (I first read it after I'd already seen the film so I don't think the fact you've just watched it will ruin your enjoyment of it).

:laugh2:

I haven't seen the remake of Carrie but I love the characters in the Original. Even Norma and Chris were amazing characters despite being bullying bitches. Chris is probably one of my favourite movie bitches of all time tbh.

Btw I'll watch the Shining tonight and post my review after.

Can't wait to watch Carrie again :lovedup:

http://i.imgur.com/fTpBoF6.gif

-To Danny- "Come on, that's not running, let's goooooooooooo"

Does she really get that much praise for it though? (apart from from me :laugh:) I've always considered Jack to be the one who got the attention for this movie, and he went on to have a continued successful career etc where as, as far as I'm aware, she didn't really do much of note afterwards or get that much attention at the time?

I don't even think her performance was that bad either tbh. I feel really sorry for Shelley Duvall actually (both in the film and the actress). From what I've heard she had an awful time behind-the-scenes of the film. Apparently throughout filming, she suffered from nervous exhaustion and lost all her hair and became physically ill. And Stanley Kubrick would pick on her and lose his temper and say that she was a waste of time and tell everyone else on set to not give her any sympathy in order to make her feel hopeless. She apparently considers this as the hardest performance of her career and even Jack Nicholson said that her performance was fantastic and the toughest role he'd ever seen any actor have.

It's quite sad given by the sound of things, she had such a hard time during the making only to be criticised heavily for her role and even be nominated for Worst Actress because of it. :/

The Shining

A classic through and through. It's creepy, unnerving and just really well made. A lot of the most iconic horror film scenes come from this film and I think it's a rare case of the film adaptation being better than the book.

I think one thing that works really well with this film is that it's a horror film that wasn't made with typical horror sensibilities of the time and it's why it's mostly stood the test of time.

It has aged badly in some parts though but aside from that it's one of the best horror films ever.

9/10.

I didn't know all that, sounds awful D: It's be enough to put someone off acting!

You can read more about it here

http://moviepilot.com/posts/3930056

That's horrific! I never knew they shot it chronologically either and that it took so long to make, I mean 3 days just for the door scene seems crazy!

The Shinning 6/10

It's a good film but I struggled to get into it, I loved the setting and it was creepy at times.

I'll watch Carrie tonight :)

Justice for Carrie</3

Throwback to this vicious attack when the only thing I was guilty of was letting me hair down after a stressful week.

Sorry Carrie, I'll try and watch you tomorrow

I watched Carrie last night I will review it asap

Cherry falls :worry:

Forgot to review The Shining but I'll just rank it:

The Shining - 8/10

Love this movie! Always feel like it gets overshadowed by Scream/IKWYDLS but it's just as good. Brittany Murphy </3

I've actually never seen Cherry Falls but I look forwards to it. But yeah I can just tell it's another one of those post-Scream era slasher flicks just by looking at the year it came out. :laugh:

Cherry Falls in underrated.

Pretty much is but I think it's better than Scream personally, better motive/twist.

If I was gonna viciously attack you it would be over not scheduling Trick 'r Treat closer to Halloween you monster :idc:

(Btw I'll watch Cherry Falls tomorrow :spin:)

The Shining
9/10

A classic horror movie.The storyline was amazing, It didn't scare me but I do think it's a good horror movie. Jack is an amazing character and so was his family.

Okay I'm wondering what was censored now.

Same! I don't remember putting any swearing there :suspect: