THE SHINING REVIEW!!! (STILL ONE OF THE BEST!!) (AT THE DIETRICH TUES 7PM AND WED 1 PM AND 7 PM)

Initial release date: May 23, 1980

Studios: Warner Brothers

Tagline: A masterpiece of modern terror

Plot: Jack Torrance becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer’s block. He settles in along with his wife. Wendy, and his son, Danny, who is plagued by psychic premonitions. As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny’s visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel’s dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac as hell-bent on terrorizing his family.

Cast

Jack Nicholson - Jack Torrance

Shelley Durvall - Wendy Torrance

Danny Lloyd - Danny

Scatman Crothers - Hallorann

Barry Nelson - Ullmann

Philip Stone - Grady

Joe Turkel - Lloyd

Tony Burton - Durkin

Barry Dennen - Watson

Writer(s): Stanley Kubrick (Eyes Wide Shut; Full Metal Jacket)

Diane Johnson

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Rated R for disturbing violent content and behavior, bloody images, graphic nudity and strong language (146 minutes)

The 1980 film adaptation of ‘The Shining is an eerie and suspenseful film based on one of Stephen King’s most beloved novels.

There are several moments scattered throughout that are really chilling. The music that you hear during the feature really helps give the film its chilling and haunting atmosphere. The 1980 film does start off a little slow. But, once Jack and his family enter the hotel, things really get moving! There are quite a bit of intense scenes in the film and once the Jack Torrance character becomes more insane the tension gets bigger and bigger.

The film’s suspense builds even more as it progresses. Nicholson’s performance is incredible and does a great job as his character becomes unhinged.

‘The Shining’ delivers some of the most iconic moments and lines to ever hit the screen. The eerie conclusion of the classic is extremely memorable and does a great job wrapping up the film’s story. And, the story of ‘The Shining’ continued on with ‘Doctor Sleep,’ which focuses on the Danny character. Even though ‘Sleep’ isn’t as well known as ‘The Shining’, it’s also worth a look.

If you miss The Shining at the Dietrich, it is streaming on the Max streaming service!

Here are quite a few interesting tidbits about ‘The Shining’:

• For the scene in which Jack breaks down the bathroom door, the props department built a door that could be easily broken. However, Jack Nicholson had worked as a volunteer fire marshal and tore it apart far too easily. The props department was then forced to build a stronger door.

• Nicholson and Duvall have expressed open resentment against the reception of the film, feeling that critics and audiences credited Kubrick solely for the film’s success without considering the efforts of the actors, crew, or the strength of King’s underlying material. Nicholson and Duvall have said that the film was one of the hardest of their careers.

• To get Nicholson in the right agitated mood, he was fed only cheese sandwiches for two weeks, which he hates.

• The throwing of the tennis ball inside the Overlook Hotel was Nicholson’s idea. The script originally specified that “Jack is not working.”

• There were so many changes to the script during shooting that Nicholson claimed he stopped reading it. He would read only the new pages that were given to him each day.

• Shelly Duvall suffered from nervous exhaustion throughout filming, including physical illness and hair loss.

• The “snowy” maze near the movie’s conclusion consisted of 900 tons of salt and crushed Styrofoam.

• Stephen King was quite disappointed in the final film. While admitting that Kubrick’s visuals were stunning, he said that was surface and not substance. He often described the film as “A fancy car without an engine.”

• The MPAA didn’t allow blood to be shown in any trailers that would be seen by all ages. Kubrick persuaded them that the blood was rusty water and got the trailer passed.

• During filming, Kubrick made the cast watch ‘Eraserhead,’ ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘The Exorcist’ to put them in the right frame of mind.

• Despite receiving generally unfavorable reviews upon its initial release, the film is now regarded as one of the best horror movies ever made. In 2001, it was ranked 29th on AFIs “100 Years … 100 Thrills” list. In 2003, Jack Torrance was named the 25th greatest villain on the AFIs “100 Years … 100 Heroes and Villains” list.

• Was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2018 for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

• This was voted the 9th scariest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

• Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events had a limited screening in October 2016 in 2K and 4K resolution.

• ‘The Shining’ opened the same weekend as ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ but was released on ten screens and grossed $622,337 for the four day weekend, the third highest grossing opening weekend from fewer than fifty screens of all time, behind ‘Star Wars’ and ‘The Rose.’

• After expanding, the film gained momentum, eventually doing well commercially during summer 1980 and making Warner a profit.