The Shining

What did the critics and the audience say about it?

Here is a review from a member of the audience

This movie just scared the life out of me, which is what still happens every time I rent the video for a re-watch. I have seen The Shining at least six or seven times, and I still believe it to be simultaneously and paradoxically one of the most frightening and yet funniest films I've ever seen. Frightening because of the extraordinarily effective use of long shots to create feelings of isolation, convex lens shots to enhance surrealism, and meticulously scored music to bring tension levels to virtually unbearable levels. And "funny" because of Jack Nicholson's outrageous and in many cases ad-libbed onscreen antics. It never ceases to amaze me how The Shining is actually two films in one, both a comedy AND a horror flick.

Here is a review from a critic 

Though it deviates from Stephen King's novel, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is a chilling, 

often baroque journey into madness -- exemplified by an unforgettable turn from Jack 

Nicholson.


In your opinion how good were the actors performances?

I thought Jack Nicholson's performance was amazing in this film, he played the role of a mental creepy psycho like I have never seen before. This role has been given to many different actors, in many films within this genre and I don't think i've ever been as creeped out by an actors performance, more than Jack's in this film. 

Shelley Duvall played Wendy, Jack's weak vulnerable wife with no back bone very well. I liked how she seemed to be the victim with the camera shots looking down on her, when actually she was the one with more power. At the start of the film her performance annoyed me, the fact that she acted quite like a mouse, quiet and didn't stand up for herself and throughout the film I was hoping she would become some sort of heroin. 
During the scene where she is stood on the stairs and hits Jack with the bat, that was the moment I was waiting for with this character, and I began to love her performance. She came across as weak but still managed to run away and defend herself from her husband trying to murder her. 

In my opinion Danny's performance was also a great performance for a child actor, it must be hard to stand with a knife and repeat the words "redrum, redrum" over and over at such a tender age. His performance was really creepy the way he would talk to his finger and talk in a freaky voice and say he was talking to Tony. Although the quick camera shots to his face screaming did make me cringe and I did find them a bit cheesy and unrealistic. 

Overall I found the main actors performances in this film really great, but my favourite performance was by Jack Nicholson due to his unbelievably creepy performance. 


Give specific examples of innovative or unusual cinematography and mise en scene

The mise en scene that I enjoyed of this film was the facial expressions that Jack portrayed, he was either completely blank with no emotion or laughing and happy in situations that he shouldn't be happy. His emotions were mixed up, he was experiencing happiness when trying to murder his wife and son, and unhappiness when he got the job he had wanted at the start his facial expressions were completely blank. I think the director did this because it would make the audience fear that someone could be that detached and not in touch with themselves.  Also in the gold room Jack looks straight into the camera, as if he is looking into the audience and speaking, in my opinion I found this very frightening just that this mental man was staring at me with that evil face, to me it intimidates the audience which adds fear and tension. 

The make-up for the two young girls being murdered had a lot of blood, and the blood washing through the hotel through the lift, this effect of adding so much blood makes you think about how many deaths and murders actually happened in the hotel for it to have so much blood. Also the crazy old woman in the bath it looked as if her skin had melted off, I thought the make-up effects were very good for that time in film, I thought it looked very realistic. I thought the director shows this because the two pretty innocent girls were in clean dresses and suddenly they are chopped up covered in blood saying "let's play forever" and it scares the audience that something so innocent could turn so evil. 

The cinematography of this film which I enjoyed were the different camera shots and how it cuts to different months so you can experience the 5 months they spent in the hotel quicker than it actually was but enhancing the moments the audience would of wanted to have seen. Also whenever we are with Danny on his bicycle  we are always put on the same level as him, so we feel like we are in his shoes, as vulnerable as a small child and this is use of good camera work because the audience will feel just as scared as Danny. 

Also at the start of the film, there is a wide-shot of a moving car driving and there are shots of beautiful colours and nature, the colour wash is bright and as the film develops the colour wash turns more grey and darker, it turns winter and nothing is bright anymore. This becomes more scary for the audience because they feel that the characters are trapped and isolated. And it makes them feel that it is only going to become more of a scarier atmoshphere.