Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Director: Stanley Kubrick
U.S. Distribution: Warner Bros.
U.S. Release Date: 5/23/80
Running Time: 2:26
MPAA Rating: R
Jack Nicholson stars in director Stanley Kubrick's disturbingly slow-paced adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. Only Scatman Crothers and young Danny Lloyd have the ability ("The Shining") to see the evil which lies within an isolated Colorado hotel. I only wish that someone would have seen to it that the film's script and/or editing was tightened. Warner Bros. produced the film on a reported budget of $19 million. If they had only spent another mill and performed a little surgery here and there, this would have been a much better film.
For all of the movie's unevenness, it is Nicholson who really "shines". He alone is worth the price of admission. His devolution from mild-mannered family man to the crazy ("Here's Johnny!") and evil ("I'm not gonna hurt ya, I'm just gonna bash your brains in!") thing he becomes by film's end is the whole show.
The Shining isn't the "masterpiece of modern horror" it promises to be, but it is a must-see for fans of the genre and/or Jack.
© 2000, Delton Perrodin