The Shining

Non-spoiler review I'm going to have to redo some of my 5 star ratings. I've been pretty lenient with giving them, but I hate to demote a film to 4.5 stars without rewatching it first, and would feel bad even if I did rewatch said film. The reason I bring that up is because this film is so deserving of 5 stars, more so than other films with the same rating. When the film was reaching its end, I expected a final scene with Jack Nicholson looking straight into the camera and saying "I think this might just be my masterpiece" and then cutting to a black screen with large yellow text that reads "written and directed by Stanley Kubrick". Fantastic in every sense of the word. You're on edge throughout the whole thing and just waiting and wondering for when things will break. And when things break, you're wondering what will happen next. And when the film ends, you're still wondering what actually happened. If anything this film is a mind game. It has sparked so much debate as to if there is anything supernatural or not, what the ending means, etc. Not to say that these questions don't have answers, they just make for good discussions. The whole film is so interesting and crazy and interpretable and that's why I think it is still watched and talked about over 40 years later. It also pleases both the blood-hungry slasher fans and the pretentious, though probably more the latter. It's got wide appeal and I rarely see people who don't like it. A lot of that simply comes down to the good filmmaking, this was of course made by Stanley Kubrick so that's a given. I don't know if Kubrick just finds good actors and lets them do their thing or directs them to his liking. Either way his film always have great acting and this film especially. Of course you have Jack Nicholson, one of the most famous actors in arguably his most famous role. He's obviously fantastic in this, with great monologues and generally being compelling. Shelley Duvall gets a lot of backlash for this role, and undeservedly so in my opinion. I'm aware of how she was treated on set, but even with that fact she was really good. A bit dramatic at times but then again I don't know how a normal person would react to a situation like the one she's in. Both leads shine in their own special way. Back to the broad statement though, the filmmaking. I would like to dedicate this paragraph to the cinematography. I'm not one to notice incredible cinematography or anything, especially with films that are shot in a way that looks normal from the naked eye. This film is not shot normally at all, and that's I bring it up. There are many long takes, tracking shots, and quick pans, (and probably other shots that I'm not familiar with) all used to highlight the creepy atmosphere. In every long take it just feels as if some imperceptible figure is watching. The cinematography mixed with the design of the hotel makes for a legitimately unsettling atmosphere. It reminds me of a phenomenon I recently came across: liminal spaces. If you don't know what I'm talking about then look it up, it's a really strange and engrossing topic. I've never seen a movie capture the feeling of a liminal space better than this one, with the forlorn, eerie hotel. This film is scary in an unusual way, it's more personal and intimate than any other horror film I've seen. Yes, there is a murderer, but that's only half the scare. It uses its setting in a creative way, and makes the feeling of dread and isolation part of the scare and isn't reliant on the crazy murderer mad man. It's truly deserving of the title "psychological thriller". And with all that, we have one of the best (maybe the best ??) horror films ever made.