amazing, a great film, alot becuase of the script.Ashley (10 out of 10 )
This movie is so scary. RED RUM!amanda (10 out of 10 )
This movie was just absolutely excellent. All I know is that I should stay out of room 237.carl (2 out of 10 )
This is the worst movie I have ever seen!anonymous (10 out of 10 )
An amazing horror film.Steven (10 out of 10 )
Excellent script, excellent movie. And Carl, when everyone says it's a great film and you're the only one that says it's crap, that means you're wrong. So keep your opinion to yourself.Elese (10 out of 10 )
OMG I am never checking in to room 237. RED RUM RED RUM!iieuvy (10 out of 10 )
This was the movie that got me positively HOOKED on ALL THINGS HORROR!lynndie (4 out of 10 )
It was an amazingly beautiful movie, but does not portray the characters or histories as the book by stephen king does, and it was a let down honestly. Without the book as a guideline though, it would be perfect. Jack's character was supposed to be sorry for his actions, always trying to work it out, always trying. The Overlook was supposed to explode near the end, because of the boiler over heating, and the hedge animals were not even in the movie and they were a VERY LARGE part of the book's theme, the end up blocking the family from leaving, and they attack Dick Halloraan on his way to the overlook in the snowcat. The boiler room/scrap-book was left out, which the overlook hotel centered around, without the scrap book jack did not fall under the Overlook's wrath almost. Jack also almost finished a screen play, and did not repeat one sentence over and over maddeningly for eighty pages of paper. They portrayed the child's "friend" in an irritating way that does not follow the books description at all. The book describes Tony as Danny's future conscience, and not his finger moving, he is a separate almost hallucination, and does not (in the book) really almost posses Danny and make it look like the Exorcist. The book aside, the movie was an amazing piece of work, the music was brilliant, the scenes with the ghosts and supernatural were superb and very nicely made. I am sorry for my criticism, it's just that not many people read the book and they are left out of SO many juicy tid bits and even WHOLE things that add so much life to the story theme, those people miss out on a beautiful piece of fiction.Alan (10 out of 10 )
I haven't read the novel, but with regard to most of the aspects that Lynndie mentions as having been left out or changed, it seems like Kubrick made the right decisions. Rampaging hedge animals would simply have wound up looking corny, while blowing up the hotel would have ended the film on completely the wrong note. For me the movie's great strength is the way Kubrick keeps most of the overtly supernatural horror elements low key, deploying them sparingly. Instead he concentrates on imbuing the ostensibly mundane with a palpable air of menace. This is a film about three little people, rattling around inside a gigantic empty hotel, which is in turn dwarfed by the vast mountainous wilderness that surrounds it. It is an agoraphobic's nightmare, with psychological undertones of human isolation and insignificance. As the steadicam floats along endless corridors and cavernous hallways, the disjoint in scale between the building and its three troubled residents, especially the little boy Danny, is eerily conveyed. And the scene where Wendy discovers Jack's demented manuscript consisting of the endlessly repeated phrase "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", has to be one of the all time classic movie moments. In fact even if you stripped out all the supernatural elements, The Shining would still be an exceptionally unsettling film about one man's descent into madness. Not that I have any wish to tamper with such a terrific movie. It's damn near perfect as it is.Earl (10 out of 10 )
I'm actually a kid in middle school and I was absolutely mesmerized by the movie. It's actually my favorite movie in the world so you all may or may not agree. The overlook hotel is just more than a home away from home for the torrence family. It's a place where past horrors come to life. And those gifted with the shining do battles with the dark evils. Stephen king's classic thriller is one of the most powerfully imagined novels of our time. As a matter of fact I first watched this movie when I was 4 years old. And I'm actually in the middle of reading the novel right now.Marquise (10 out of 10 )
THIS is how you make a movie! This is amazing. Jack Nicholson is the greatest actor ever, and he definitely does not disappoint in his role as Jack Torrance. Sure, he's crazy from the get-go, but WHO CARES? He is Jack Nicholson for goodness sakes, he can be as crazy as he wants! Shelley Duvall is a little bit too whiny and a little bit too annoying, but I can overlook that. Stanley, god rest your soul, you made this movie better than Stephen King could EVER make the book. The greatest movie ever, quite possibly.Emma (9 out of 10 )
This film was very scary- one of the scariest I have ever seen. And, although it doesn't completely follow the book, it isn't scary because of the gore or even the fact the hotel is accommodated by poltergeists. It is because of the psychology of the film. If you also consider Saw and the Silence of the Lambs, these films are very scary because you are being drawn into their world; you feel a part of what is going on. And living something is different to viewing it. That is the secret behind the success of a horror/thriller. It isn't about the amount of gore. It is about conflict.Fleur Delacour's Man (10 out of 10 )
It was really good. I only saw it once and it was on TV (so a lot of the scenes were taken out) but it was really good. I am in the middle of reading the book now and it is just a tiny bit better than the movie, but overall, I'll give the movie a ten. Great job Jack!Stephen Michael Ballif (10 out of 10 )
The Shining is an amazing film written by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson. The film was very well written and is the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel I have seen. It is also one of the best horror films I have ever seen. The scenes were carefully placed and organized to sucessfully tell the story and engage the audience in this horrifying film.
The writers did a good job at being true to the story, but where also able to be very cinematic. They used very good expressionistic ways to flash thoughts and psychological anguish into the picture, giving the audience a glimpse inside the characters' minds. These "flash" scenes were well placed throughout the script to help the audience feel as the characters did.
Another strength of the screenplay was the dialogue. I have not read the novel, and so I'm not sure how much came out of it, but the dialogue was realistic and made the interactions between characters very real. Words and phrases were also carefully chosen to create the eerie mood. Stories shared amongst the characters of death and horror, such as of the Donner Party, were also important to the film itself.
The screenplay had a very nice story arc. The setting was good and the tension was steadily increased until the dramatic climax. The characters were well developed, and the changes in the story's situation were easily reflected in their personalities as they tried to adapt, some in more successful ways than others.
The Shining is a horrorific masterpiece. The story is driven in a very realistic and audience capturing way. The story was told in a way that was perfectly fit for the screen, as such a visual medium.AMR HANIF (9 out of 10 )
Film making as we know it; when it's done correctly, a genuine art form of illusions. When attention to detail matters. The development of thrilling suspense and the shocking horror is delivered right on cue. This is an impressive production of story telling. One must never underestimate this art form. What seems to work in a book doesn't always work on screen.
Simplicity works in creating a legendary film. Where one would never seem to forget in such a hurry. Thanks Stanley Kubrick for telling your story!Eduardo M (10 out of 10 )
I have been a Stephen King fan for many years. I have read The Shining multiple times. The movie, although it is a wonderful piece of work with amazing actors, does not follow the book as much as I want it to. But, at the same time, it is good that it does not always follow the book. As it was pointed out, giant hedge animals, with the special effects of the time, would have made the movie look corny and not very serious. And blowing up the hotel was out of the question with the tone they were setting, as well as the budget of the movie. The way the movie works, is to take the horror, suspense, and all of that, and fold it into the actions of the characters, and their reactions to the hotel itself. The hotel itself is trying to kill them, but it is doing so in a very passive-aggressive type of fashion, by slowly driving the father (Jack Torrence) to madness and then murder. Showing them images, and horrors, but not physically laying a hand on them. Thus making less of a slasher, gore-fest, and more of a psychological thriller. While the book was good, the movie was also good. Personally, I also enjoyed the remake of the Shining, which more closely followed the book, and even used a model of the hotel that the Overlook was originally based on, the Stanley Hotel, in which Stephen King spent several days in the late '70s.
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