BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: Think of the greatest terror imaginable. Is it a monstrous alien? A lethal epidemic? Or, as in this harrowing masterpiece from Stanley Kubrick, is it fear of murder by someone who should love and protect you - a member of your own family? From a script he co-adapted from the Stephen King novel, Kubrick melds vivid performances, menacing settings, dreamlike tracking shots and shock after shock into a milestone of the macabre. In a signature role, Jack Nicholson ("Heeeere's Johnny!") plays Jack Torrance, who's come to the elegant, isolated Overlook Hotel as off-season caretaker with his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd). Torrance has never been there before - or has he? The answer lies in a ghostly time warp of madness and murder.

FILM REVIEW: The incredible helicopter shot which opens The Shining which follows a car through the mountains, combined with the downbeat, chilling musical score immediately establishes this horror film as being different to almost all others of its type. The film is loosely based on Stephen King’s horror novel of the same name, although it’s very much a Kubrick film, focusing more on psychological terror rather than traditional horror scares. It’s a unique film in its own right, largely thanks to Kubrick’s esoteric vision, offering some very unique images and a memorable performance from lead star Jack Nicholson. I found many things of interest in this film, although at times it does lag, just as many Kubrick’s films do. Even so, this is absolutely worth checking out, if only to see the famous scene where Nicholson breaks down a door with an axe and loudly proclaims, “Here’s Johnny!!”

One element that you’ll notice straight away when watching this film is that it’s bright. Almost all the images are in full daylight; in many respects this make the psychological terror all the more frightening as we get to see in every detail. There isn’t some monster or ghost lurking in the shadows waiting to jump out at you. For those who love their scares to be cattle-prod in nature then you might not like The Shining, but for those who are in to exploring psychological terrors and dilemmas, then this might be right up your alley.

Jack Nicholson is superb as Jack Torrance, a writer who takes the job as winter caretaker of the Overlook hotel, despite getting a strong warning from the owners that the previous caretaker went mad and chopped up his family with an axe in those various same walls. He moves in to the hotel with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) and at first, everything appears normal. But soon, things are not as they seem, as Jack slowly descends in to madness, eventually fulfilling the same fate as his predecessor but ultimately ends up dead himself before he can get to his family.

Jack’s son Danny has a special gift called The Shining, an ability to telepathically communicate messages, a talent he shares with the head chef Dick Hallorann. It is through this telepathic ability that Kubrick assembles some very memorable images, including the river of blood which comes gushing out of the elevators, the two dead girls in a lonely hallway that have been chopped to bits, and the mysterious, disfigured old woman in the bathroom. All of these images will send chills down your spine. But the thrills turn in to high gear when Jack starts to turn on his family; one particularly great moment is when Jack is chasing his wife through the house with a baseball bat, trying to soothe her with the words, “I’m not going to hurt you, I’m just going to bash your brains in…”.

As with all of Kubrick’s films, the picture is a visual delight, even in its square frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio. As mentioned earlier, the opening helicopter shot is a marvel of design, timing and framing, and this is followed by sequence after sequence of memorable images at the Overlook Hotel. The steadicam shots in the hedge maze are truly amazing. The pacing of the film is a little problematic and at times it does seem to drag (but I’ve found this with most Kubrick films except for Eyes Wide Shut). However, this is more than up for with the atmosphere that’s generated in the film, particularly in the sequences where Jack sees people in the hotel that aren’t really there, who urge him to commit actions he otherwise would never act upon.

The Shining is a unique horror film with memorable performances and sequences; it may not be for everyone, especially the horror buffs who like their scares executed in more traditional ways, but nevertheless, this is a memorable film worth checking out.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: The video transfer for the most part is great for a film of this age. There are still the odd film scratches here and there, and some of the images are probably not as vibrant as they could be but overall it’s a solid transfer. The transfer is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, as intended by Stanley Kubrick so those with widescreen televisions will see the black bars on either side of the picture. The audio is likewise of the same quality, faithfully represented the original dialogue track and the dreaded musical score. Overall, it’s a very good transfer.

EXTRAS REVIEW: The extras package is a little short on material unfortunately, although there is an excellent making-of featurette filmed by Vivian Kubrick at the time of shooting which goes behind the scenes and reveals some fascinating tidbits of Kubrick at work. Watching Kubrick tear in to his lead actress when she messes up a shot the crew spent hours preparing is somewhat legendary to watch, especially considering how brutal he is. Jack Nicholson is also fun to watch in the film, but you can tell that the atmosphere on set must have been tense. Apart from that, there’s some subtitles and a trailer. The featurette is great but I would have liked to have seen a lot more.

BOTTOM LINE: Worth having in the collection.