Kubrick Fest continues! "The Shining" (1980) - REVIEW

After years of seeing bits and pieces of The Shining (aka: the mother of all good horror films) I finally lifted myself out of my sunken position in my living room sofa and picked up the film at Blockbuster (you're welcome in advance for the free press). Even after seeing all those fragments, watching the whole film to completion was still a wonderfully surprising and frightening experience. Jack Nicholson does a brilliant job at transforming from a clean cut family man to a deranged killer. Kubrick's gliding tracking shots are a nice touch, and can function so as to be calming, unnerving, or flat out menacing. Perfectly matching the camera work is the music, which is erratic, chaotic, strange, and brilliantly unsettling. Perhaps what makes "The Shining" truly brilliant though, is the story itself. Few horror films have so many memorable scenes: "redrum", "Here's Johnnie!", the twin girls, the woman in the bath tub, the list goes on. One aspect of the film I really want to examing (briefly) is

"OH MY GOD! Is that what my hair really looks like from this angle!!!???"

Shelley Duvall's performance. She often gets quite a bit of hate, though honestly I don't really understand why. Yes, by the end of the movie all she's doing is screaming and panting, but really, what would you do if you were a waif-ish, submissive housewife being hunted down by your husband? I'm not saying she was brilliant, but it worked for what the role offered. I think this is one of those cases where people cross the line between an annoying performance, and an annoying character.

Grade: A+

expect Kubrick fest to continue in the weeks to come with A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, and more!