The Shining

Easily 100% no question the greatest horror film ever made. I wanna talk about how this was the best filmmaking and directing I have ever seen in my entire life. The little details about this movie, like how Kubrick told Danny to look up and just stare at Dick Halloren in the whole time, when they walk through the halls on the first meeting. another little detail is Kubrick putting a mic in the big wheel of Danny’s tricycle to create a really unique sound effect that elevates the immersiveness.  I also want to highlight some of the acting performances here. In my opinion, I feel like Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance is the greatest casting and the greatest acting performance in the history of cinema. I love when an actor is able to capture the manic nature of a crazy guy. And he does these slow descent, so absolutely perfectly. I’ve never felt like an acting performance, elevated a film more than Jack Nicholson’s in this film. The only thing that comes close is Heath ledger’s performance in the Dark Knight and Adrian Brody’s performance in the Pianist. Another incredible acting performance was when I was not expecting. Danny Lloyd plays Danny really really really well. Like I’ve never seen a child actor have a better performance. It honestly terrifies you at times, especially in the redrum scene.  Talking about the terrifying nature of the film, as it is a horror film after all. It nail it perfectly like absolutely perfectly. There’s something about the suspense in this film that’s perfect enough that you don’t need like some of the gore and jump scares that you get in other horror films. I feel like Gore and horror films is unnecessary and I feel like Kubrick understood that here and knew he didn’t need stuff like that to make the film as good as it is.  This is a horror film that I would actually recommend two people who aren’t even fans of horror. While it is terrifying, the storytelling is the part that immerses you, and it’s more suspense than any actual horror. Just so crazy good and definitely a new entry into my top four favorite films of all time.