Redrum- The Shining

“The Shining” was definitely one of the coolest movies I’ve ever seen and definitely proves why Jack Nicholson is still a huge movie star today. The film builds up fear perfectly by really dragging you into the Overlook Hotel with the Torrances, isolated in the middle of nowhere. At first for a while, the film is not overly jumpy scary but works on setting the scene for a family to start to go crazy with the isolation and the bad vibe given by the ghosts, instead of just scaring the audience with cheap special effects of ghosts popping up. This element along with the “gift” the little boy has to see the terrible things that happened in the past or are going to happen and how Jack starts to be manipulated by the ghosts gradually makes the movie more terrifying. The visions Danny sees, especially of the two twin girls covered in blood in the hallway, set up a background story of a father just like Jack, going crazy there and butchering his family. Danny Lloyd who plays Danny, does a fantastic job at such a young age, making it believable to the audience that he does have the ability to see things especially with the faces he makes. Unlike most movies, he is not just the annoying kid but a key factor in the plot line. Jack Nicholson also was amazing in the film because he made a believable 180 turn from a nice father to a complete psycho. The scene where he chases Wendy, Shelley Duvall who’s got the scared to death look on her face down perfectly, made me wonder if I was more afraid of the ghosts or of Jack in the film. The ghosts were just so weird and creepy especially in the bathtub scene which was absolutely disgusting. The scene where Wendy is running around alone and keeps finding the ghosts taunting her is my favorite scene because it really shows how this is a psychological horror film and not just gruesome or cheesy one. It’s not enough that she had to run away from her crazy husband trying to kill her and her son but also a bunch of ghosts messing with her head too now, along with her son who she has to worry about because he seems to be taken over by the boy living in his mouth. Even when there is a chance of hope that Dick Hallorann is going to come save them, that’s shot to hell as soon as he walks in and Jack takes an ax to him. Even though Wendy and Danny get away, you can’t even say it’s a happy ending because of what happened to Jack, who dies in a different and surprising way by being frozen solid instead of killed by Wendy or Danny. This movie really messes with your mind and scares you with things you wouldn’t think would like typing same thing on a paper, an overflow of blood from the elevator or just ghosts standing at the end of the hall yet not doing anything. There is just so much creepiness and weirdness going on throughout the movie that it’s hard not to get sucked in and then be freaked out for the rest of the night after watching it. How Stanley Kubrick portrayed the characters, ghosts and the hotel’s past and present, even adding the picture at the end that left the audience think wtf?, is what made this one of the greatest horror movies of all time.