The Shining (1980)

[**** stars/*****]

There is a job vacancy at the remotely-located 1909-established Overlook Hotel, Rocky Mountains. 

Wanted: A caretaker during the off-season snow-drowned winter months. 

For aspiring writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) the job might offer just the solitude he needs to work, with wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) for company.

Jack seems to have aced the interview. Manager Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) adds just one little detail. The previous caretaker, Charles Grady, got a wee bit restless during his stay. Grady ended up killing his wife and two little daughters in the process. 

Jack is unaffected and says that his wife loves hearing horror stories. The job is his. Meanwhile, back at Jack's home, Danny has a blood-flowing nightmare about the hotel. 

The Torrance family moves in soon after, days began to pass, snow begins to gather and things start to unravel at the good old Overlook Hotel.   

A master at work 
Apart from extracting incredible performances from the three main cast members, director Stanley Kubrick literally weaves a maze of visual and audio intricacies to terrify the audience. 

The overbearing sense of location, the maze, eye-catching use of geometrical shapes, I can't get my mind off the sublime John Alcott cinematography, the terrific score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind. 

The Shining is a learner's guide to making a timeless horror movie. 

The hypnotic use of enclosed spaces, of movement, sound, colours and textures is unbelievably precise. The wolf and the three pigs story is twisted about for axe-pounding scares.   

The strong green paleness of Room 237, shroud white curtains, calculated lighting, lingering tense pace, ominous use of red...how the hell did Kubrick get Danny Lloyd to give such haunting expressions?

Nicholson's highly enjoyable act in the final parts is a prelude to his Joker in Tim Burton's Batman (1989). Shelley Duvall is a great horror movie face, that's how a scared-to-death woman should look.  

I saw The Shining on my cell phone screen, and its distinct imagery has stayed with me for over two days. I wonder what a late evening big screen experience would have done. 

This is a magnificently orchestrated horror masterpiece.  

If you love horror movies (otherwise the genre has gone redundant lately), among the clutter of jump scares and cheap tested tricks, The Shining is what Lionel Messi is to football...unspeakable brilliance...something else.