Review: The Shining (1980)

As a younger film reviewer, I have missed a lot of classic horror films as they made their theatrical runs. Instead, I am forced to catch many of them on video, years after all the hoopla and controversy have died down. I didn't see "Psycho" until around 2005, nor "The Exorcist" until roughly that same year. Another case in point: It wasn't until yesterday, here in 2009, that I finally sat down to my first viewing of Stanley Kubrick's endlessly lauded horror film "The Shining", based upon the novel by Stephen King.

"The Shining" is regarded, even today, as one of the scariest films ever made. I often wonder as to what the criteria is for such films to appear on the list: Do they ever take into account how the film would be accepted now, or do they rely solely upon the memory of the reviewer, as he remembers first watching the movie decades ago. I ask this because it is my opinion that a true horror film should be able to stand the tests of time. With that statement freshly in mind, I will now reveal the following: Perhaps it is just the generation gap(s) between its initial release and now, but I found "The Shining" to be overrated, and overlong.

Of course, it is not a bad film; I can clearly see why audiences in the early '80s were freaked out of their minds by what was then a shocking mix of terror and violence, but it is certainly dated when viewed today. As unfair as I'm sure it is for me to lump this film in the same list as its endless number of followers, there isn't much to set "The Shining" apart from films of similar ilk. I will say, however, that what does stand out makes it a solid horror film; it's just not the overhyped classic that the entire world, apparently, would have you believe.

Though I'm sure this will do nothing but waste words, I still feel it's my duty to run through the film's familiar plot. Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a man who is hired to look after the secluded Overlook Hotel for the winter, along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and Danny, their young son. The hotel is located in the mountains of Colorado, where the winters get so severe that it closes down for the safety of tourists. Jack, being a writer by trade, thinks it would be the perfect chance to get some peace and quiet from the outside world, allowing him to focus on his next novel.

But right from the outset, it becomes clear that something isn't quite right with the Overlook. For starters, Danny is constantly getting eerie visions--blood running out of an elevator, and two twin girls--that don't seem to suggest they're surrounded by something that's warm and friendly. Eventually, this makes way for the small problem of Jack slowly losing his mind, descending into absolute madness that may end up taking the lives of his wife and son...

However, as unimpressed as I was with the film's scares, there are two things that you simply cannot take away from "The Shining": The seminal, landmark, brilliantly effective score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind. What atmosphere "The Shining" does manage to wring out, all stems as a direct result of the score which, in my opinion was at least partially responsible for laying the groundwork for future suspense soundtracks. All the clues are there, from its use of symphonic strings (that recall, yet are way better than, the simple string swells used to create half-assed scenes of terror in most modern horror films), to the use of gradual volume increases to build suspense. It's truly a shame (though it may have been by choice) that these ladies did not go on to score more pictures.

Another landmark is Nicholson's portrayal of Jack Torrance; his subsequent descent into madness is one of the greatest horror movie performances of all time. I will admit, I did not completely buy into him in the role at the start of the film, but by the end, it's nothing but clear as to how he was picked to play Torrance; it's intense character acting at its finest. The other performers are also competent, though fall well short of Nicholson's range: Shelley Duvall is okay as Torrance's wife, and Danny Lloyd is good as their son.

However, as stated before, the film does suffer from some problems. First off, "Tony", who can best be described as Danny's inner being that allows Danny to see into the future, is almost unintentionally hilarious. Are we supposed to take the kid seriously as he talks in a gravelly voice and moves his finger back and forth, in rhythm to his words, no less? I almost burst out in laughter the first time I saw it--it didn't get any easier to take in subsequent appearances.

Its other major flaw is its running time; it is almost agonizingly overlong. Character development is certainly one thing, but a lot of the film's overlength has nothing to do with developing characters--much of it is just simply tied to scenes that go on far too long. An example? The film's famous "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" sequence, in which Wendy finds the "novel" that Jack has been working on, which consists entirely of page after page of the aforementioned saying (though I will say the coolest thing about that is the fact it's actually formatted like a screenplay). Well, apparently the audience (or maybe it's just Wendy) doesn't get the point after a few pages, so she flips and flips and flips more pages until the scene almost becomes a parody of itself.

Again, I'm in the minority here, so please take these words with a grain of salt, if you wish. Obviously, it's considered a classic in horror, and my little opinion isn't going to change all that. Nor am I trying to. Like I said, it's definitely an effective horror film with some pulse-pounding sequences, a brilliant performance by Jack Nicholson, and what has to be one of the greatest horror movie soundtracks of all time. However, despite many people's insistence to the contrary, it has its flaws, and it is these flaws that prevent it from being on at least one list of the greatest horror films of all time.

Rating: * * * (out of 4)