The Shining is truly Kubrick's best; the ending is superb and the hotel is a character in itself. Shelley's notoriously difficult relationship with Kubrick really contributed to her performance. I found out so much when I reviewed this myself.
Whatever underlying themes The Shining may or may not have Mark, I still believe it is a masterpiece in its own right that still stands up today....Incredible film!
Rob Ager and his channel Collative Learning is the one to watch if you wanna know more about the film. He’s been making videos about the Shining for a decade now I think, and my favorite one of them is the three part video about the Gold Room and how it’s tied up with the creation of the federal reserve bank. Fascinating stuff.
The Thing is probably my favorite horror movie of all time, The Shining being No 2, even though sometimes I feel like switching their position. The Shining easily has one of the best opening credits with that terrifying odd soundtrack. The Exorcist opens with a Muslim Prayer, completely silent, but it works for setting the mood. I don't know if I could add the Exorcist on my top 10 list, besides Friedkin himself stated that its not a horror film, just a drama about the mystery of faith. I personally enjoyed the Sorcerer more, I like the idea of criminals taking a long journey to hell.
Mark Kermode knows his movies, and in good humour i wrote a poem as a tribute to him, if you want to see it, simply just type in the following........My ode to Kermode
Thanks so much. Hope you like it. Its absolutly not meant to be negative or offensive, i wrote it on a whim, spontaneously without revising it, then hit the upload button ! Justin
justmadeit2 chill man. Don't apologise!! People always moan about something anyway. Damned of you do damned if you don't. You did good sir!! Never stop creating
The sad part is that if this movie was released today, general audiences would say the movie was boring, didn't make any sense, and not scary because there are no jump scares to tell them that it's scary. While book fans would say it's the worst thing ever for making changes.
Enjoyed seeing this at the cinema for the first time tonight, no matter how many times you see a film on TV its never the same as seeing it on the big screen.
Kubrick took the basic premise from the novel, sacked off 90% of Stephen Kings story and made it his own. That's why it's a great film. I'm a fan of Stephen King but strict adaptations of his work rarely make for good cinema.
I got to see perfect blue which was something that passed me by first time around and now i get to watch the shinning tonight, i really do love watching older films when they come back on the big screen.
The Shining is a classic Horror , I love the claustrophobic isolated desperation that envelopes Nicholson's character as he succumbs to the agonizing empty boredom, which ultimately drives him out of his mind and the madness of his paranoia turns him into a killer, its a masterpiece of horror and suspense, my top 5 greatest horrors are: 1.The Exorcist 2. The Shining 3. The Wicker Man 4. Rosemary's Baby 5. America Werewolf in London
Absolutely adore The Shining. One of my favourite films. Sadly I don't find it frightening anymore but I still find it creepy no matter how many times I see it.
There is also Deckard's apartment number, it references 237. Ridley didn't get in touch with Stan on a whim in other words. There are lots of Kubrick references in Blade Runner, so Kubrick was always part of the plan, so getting in touch with him to get a hold of some landscape footage was an excuse to continue with the Kubrick homage.
Even though The Shining is not the first film to use Steadicam (Bound for Glory was the first), it used the same operator and more importantly, the inventor Garrett Brown for most of the shoot. Kubrick pushed Garrett to improve the Steadicam rig and operating so that it could be more 'production savvy'. However the originator of the 'low-mode' shot that follows Danny around the corridors of the hotel, was a shot that Garrett came up with years before in his original Steadicam reel that he touted to studios. In it, he follows his son on his tricycle around the exterior deck of the house to prove how low the camera could be to the floor. Another shot in the 'Steadicam reel' was a one take shot of Garrett filming is wife running up the steps of the Philadelphia library. This was later used in the film Rocky!!
The opening music of The Shining is extracted from Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. But that musical theme itself comes from liturgical plainsong and is probably medieval in origin. If anyone reading this can tell me more about the plainsong origins, I would be most grateful. I;d love to know what point Kubrick was making with it.
I saw it at a different retrospective screening here in Toronto. And what really stood out to me was how unnatural the film feels. From frame one you just get this an easy sense of everything from its cinematography, music, performances. There are even long stretches that don't even feel like they're from the same movie. It understands that there's more than one way to get them in the audience skin rather than just throwing blood and guts at them
There's a good video on RU-vid about how the interior of the Overlook is impossible, with doors and corridors in places that they couldn't exist, the sort of thing that you don't really notice, but I think your subconscious realises that something is not quite right.
Stephen King can't handle the fact that Kubrick turned his mediocre novel into a wholly new, visually arresting tale filled with complex visual metaphors that hardly any of his other books adaptations manage to touch. Understandably he's got an ego too, after all.
Rafael Herschel King's story was "completely destroyed in the process"? Did Kubrick burn every copy of the book? King's version of the story still exists with or without the movie.
I saw this at the BFI a few years ago and if you didn't see it when it was released, it is definitely worth seeing on the big screen, as are all of Kubrick's films!
I love it, I'm glad Kubrick moulded it in his own way and made it his own take of the story. I think he improved it, so maybe that's why Stephen King wasn't happy I don't know, it is a good film; and I consider it one of the scariest that doesn't quite follow his book.
Another top triv connection between The Shining and Bladerunner is that Lloyd, the best barman from Timbuktu to Portland Maine, or Portland Oregon for that matter! Is also Dr Eldon Tyrell of Tyrell Corporation - the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long and you’ve burned so very very bright Mr. Torrance.
Ok Mark how about some more top triv - if Bladerunner and The shining could be seamlessly joined like that, are they any other examples where it would be possible???
Exactly! The 'proof' is the Frosted Flakes pack in the kitchen. Frosted flakes...Tony the tiger/ tony the little boy that lives in Danny's mouth..ot all hints that Danny is hiding in the kitchen and this the sequence in the maze was all part of Danny's plan to trap his Dad.
I think The Shining is the best of all time as far as horror films followed by The Exorcist, The Texas Chansaw Massacre, Jaws and Psycho. Five Classics right there ! Honorable Mentions .. Alien and The Thing !
King dislikes the movie because the Jack Torrance character was more or less a stand in for himself. He was a drunk either at the time or right before he wrote it (which he's been very open about) and I think he felt a real connection to the character and novel because of it. Wendy Torrance was also a smart, capable woman in the novel as opposed to poor Shelley Duvall's genuinely terrified portrayal. Also, in the novel, Jack was more or less possessed by the Hotel and had a moment of clarity at the end that saved his family as opposed to the film where he's batshit crazy from the word go and ends up dying in a vain attempt to murder his son. THAT"S why Stephen King dislikes the film. The movie itself is brilliant but outside of character names and the setting, it has little to do with the novel.
Since I've seen most scenes on social media, I didn't really find this film scary or interesting. Redrum, the twins, 'here's johnny' and 'all work no play makes jack a dull boy'
The Shining is a master CLASS in Horror, The american full cut 2 Hours 23mins is the better version, The european and uk cut version 1 hour 50 is not a good... The full cut remastered on blu ray is out now in the uk with collectors cards!
Some people have far too much time on their hands ,,, its just a movie , ,,that's all ,,,no metaphors ,no conspiracy,just a movie ,,,,some people really do need to get out more
'The Shining' holds up because the monsters were jettisoned--Kubrick and Diane Johnson instead focused on an average guy who feels worthless and has a huge chip on his shoulder because he never succeeded at anything, and the hotel isolation brings out his instability and rage. And you really feel the terror in the 'All Work And No Play' scene; Jack Nicholson practically busts through the screen as he rants and snarls "I'm just gonna BASH your BRAINS in!"
This and one flew over the cuckoos nest my favourite movies of all time,closely followed by pans labyrinth,also stanly Kubrick the best director of all time,clockwork orange,full metal jacket,Spartacus,Barry lyndon
Regardless of King's view, its strength lies not in the narrative, but, like BR2049, in the cinematography and the score. Incidentally, this business of the aerial shots being donated to Scott for Blade Runner is not 'Top Triv', but one of the most widely known and boring titbits that one would have thought Doctor K could resist recycling, especially to his relatively cine-literate audience.
The idea of a film critic that The Shining has something to do with the holocaust in order to explain the river of blood that comes out of the elevator is nonsense
Mark, you are an expert in all things film wise. Why don't you make a film. It would be perfect I'm sure. Or perhaps your too scared of being criticized.
00:20 The timming of the drumslap gong jumpscare noise has always annoyed me. If it where half a second later, it would be alot more effective as you have time to recognise that there actually is something down the hall. It needs to come the second you see the girls, not half a sec before. As it is now, it comes ahead and alert you that something will be around the corner. Ruins the scene for me.
Just posted the same thought. I never realized till now why the scene didn't have the impact it should have. The cue should, like you say, come in when the girls appear in shot. Otherwise it makes no sense. Or impact.
Well ehh, I enjoyed the book for what it was but the miniseries was really weak, some good moments here & there but I would pick Kubrick's version any day.
Honestly, reading through Reddit and *some* people are saying IT (2017) is better than the Shining. I wouldn’t even compare them at all, the Shining is a true masterpiece.
Or else (and this is way, way, way more probable, since we know man went to the moon) that all Kubrick is doing (particularly knowing his wicked sense of humor) is messing with the heads of the conspiracy nut-jobs.
I'm happy if Dr Sleep manages to get even some things right according to the novel. But then again.. how can you compete with the typewriter scene or anything else? I've read both novels.. And Dr Sleep was really good. But the original was still better.
The greatest horror of all time is Ringu. The whole American horror history together is not a tenth as scary as that single Japanese film. So when someone calls some Hollywood flick a greatest horror of all time it's just ridiculous. American horror could be terrifying only for small children, Asian horror is terrifying for everyone.
What's happened to Kermode Uncut lately? I'm sure that it used to be just Mark talking to the camera, now it's Mark talking to the camera with clips of the movie cropping up every few seconds. Is this irritating addition designed to try and keep the attention of those who have the attention span of a gnat?
I'm a little disappointed to see Mark casually give credence to certain theories presented in Room 237. I get that "everybody has their own interpretation" but some interpretations are worthier than others; at the end of the day, Kubrick *didn't* fake the Apollo moon landing, and it is just silly to approach The Shining from that angle merely because the kid has a rocket ship on his sweater. The fact that 237 intermingled that conspiracy stuff with more sensible, thematic interpretations without showing any hint of understanding which was which really made that documentary quite laughable.
I liked Room 237. The point I feel is to let these people speak freely about their interpretations of the film without the filmmaker(s?) getting too involved in validating or rejecting their theories. I'm sure at least one of them in fact has a tin foil hat on while being recorded though
I don't think Mark was saying that the conspiracy theory sounded realistic, but that the theory that the film was in part a reaction to the conspiracy theory possibly had a little bit of truth.
I don't know, Room 237 is just kind of a movie about obsession. The Shining is just the catalyst for showing what over-obsession about something does. It's not saying one thing or another about the theories.
