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27 - The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
I love Stanley Kubrick so organising my favourite films of his within my top 30 has proved to be extremely difficult, depending on my mood The Shining could even be my favourite film of his along with possibly a few others, but for now it sits nicely at #27.
One of my very favourite horror films, Jack Nicholson gives a fantastic and terrifying performance as the insane Jack Torrance, a man who along with his wife and son, is given the job of taking care of the Overlook Hotel during Winter season.
I appreciate a horror like this much more than a in your face slasher film, that's not to say this film doesn't have it's in your face terrifying moments, built they're extremely well built up and developed. From the beginning we feel an impending sense of doom and slowly see the character of Jack Torrance become insane. The atmosphere is brilliantly built up and is at times extremely chilling, you never know what is round the corner in the Overlook hotel. The tracking camera shots used in the film are great, and I have no idea why Kubrick was nominated for a Razzie award for his direction, some of my favourite shots are when the young boy Danny travels through various hallways on his toy vehicle, in almost all Kubrick's films he places the camera very precisely in a central position giving a wide shot to the viewer looking down a room, this precise one point shot works particularly well for the huge and open areas of the overlook hotel and also do a great job in doing the opposite in the maze scenes.
27 - The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
I love Stanley Kubrick so organising my favourite films of his within my top 30 has proved to be extremely difficult, depending on my mood The Shining could even be my favourite film of his along with possibly a few others, but for now it sits nicely at #27.
One of my very favourite horror films, Jack Nicholson gives a fantastic and terrifying performance as the insane Jack Torrance, a man who along with his wife and son, is given the job of taking care of the Overlook Hotel during Winter season.
I appreciate a horror like this much more than a in your face slasher film, that's not to say this film doesn't have it's in your face terrifying moments, built they're extremely well built up and developed. From the beginning we feel an impending sense of doom and slowly see the character of Jack Torrance become insane. The atmosphere is brilliantly built up and is at times extremely chilling, you never know what is round the corner in the Overlook hotel. The tracking camera shots used in the film are great, and I have no idea why Kubrick was nominated for a Razzie award for his direction, some of my favourite shots are when the young boy Danny travels through various hallways on his toy vehicle, in almost all Kubrick's films he places the camera very precisely in a central position giving a wide shot to the viewer looking down a room, this precise one point shot works particularly well for the huge and open areas of the overlook hotel and also do a great job in doing the opposite in the maze scenes.