Director: Stanley Kubrick
Year: 1980
Country: United Kingdom/USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological
Plot:
Arriving at a secluded mountainside hotel, a man and his wife intending to take care of the establishment during the winter find that the stay there causes them to fall foul of mysterious supernatural forces in the hotel and must find a way of getting out alive.
Review:
This here turned out to be quite a rather dull and overblown effort without a whole lot to really like. The most detrimental and rather unimpressive element featured here is the film's simple storyline that doesn't really allow it any kind of semblance to being a horror film as the psychological implications generate very little shocks or actual supernatural scenarios. The shots of the family arriving at the hotel and being shown around the grounds, procrastinating while he's trying to write and the continuous shots of him simply staring off into space as the camera tries to make us think he's building towards insanity is mostly pretty laughable as there's little explanation for anything throughout here. These scenes by themselves aren't considered normal horror scares for a reason in that they play more like the activities that occur in a drama which is what it feels like more often than anything, as despite the few times it really tries to swing things over into the horrific it's mostly window-dressing against the more common drama elements that are put into play far more often in here.
Those scenes make it difficult to fully understand many other horror efforts present in the later half where it starts getting into the full-on effects of the meltdown which makes no sense, and that furthers another big highly problematic effort here in that the film is completely unsure about what's actually happening to him. Though it makes small mention of the building being on top of the burial ground, there's so much unsure here about the outline of events that cause him to become such an unstable maniac when there's so many other elements coming into play here to account for that change. Going from the idea of the burial ground to the concept of the tormenting spirits and then finally his own mental instability is a continuous series of explanations for what's going on gives this such a tonal shift with each explanation that it's nearly impossible to figure out what's going on to him as it really makes a case for any of them rather than signaling which one it's going for as a logical explanation. There's also little explanation here for what the purpose of the special cognition powers he has, which are so integral to the film yet there's little about what they actually are, where it comes from or what he's doing with such skills to begin with as it never really ties into how the film manages to tie into the possible story lines for the explanation of the supernatural events taking place here.
The last big issue here is the truly awful acting. Jack Nicholson is truly abysmal here as Jack Torrance with a wretched performance. Manic, squirrely and clearly unhinged from the get-go, this is not the type of personality that should be locked away with the type of extrenuous conditions provided from the beginning and the end result is an over-the-top mess of a performance. He's crazy from the start and ends up crazy at the end, has no chemistry at all with anyone who don't feel like a family at all and the fact that he's supposed to be surprised by the turn in personality the whole film unravels significantly. Even worse is Shelly Duvall as wife Wendy, who is dull and irritating beyond belief. Constantly trying to nag him about the conditions within their stay, acts as an irritating busybody with no real sense of personal space which always causes him to snap at her makes this quite an irritating couple to follow. Although Scatman Crothers as Jack Hollaran is fine enough as the chef who also possesses a special gift, there's not much else here that really works in terms of the acting prowess. With a finale that also doesn't make any sense tacked on for no real reason, these here are what hold this back over the few small areas that work.
One of the film's better aspects is the atmosphere present, as the main reason for that is the hotel itself which is so massive and creepy that much of the suspense and atmosphere is caused by just seeing the hotel. All to often it takes up so much space and the characters are so small compared to it that an already massive building looks even bigger than it really is. That also accounts for the technical skills shown here, which range from the sweeping camerawork that adds a majestic quality to the scenes at the maze or the surrounding mountainside locations as well as the overall presentation of the film which makes this look far classier than it should be. With a powerhouse finale that includes the film's only real suspenseful moments and attitude toward action, they're enough to help this somewhat but not enough to overcome the flaws.
Overview: **/5
One of the most overrated efforts in the genre, this has so much really wrong with this one that it doesn't offer up any kind of enjoyment other than the few technical virtues. This has mostly been rated so high for its creative side so that's where this one should be but if that means nothing then just heed caution.
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