The Shining
The Shining or A Movie That You Never Should Have Seen on The Movie Channel When You Were Only Nine, Thanks Mom and Dad.
Just The Facts
- The Shining came out in 1980 and is without a doubt the scariest movie ever made featuring Scatman Crothers.
- The Shining was first a novel by Stephen King, who thankfully was stopped from fucking up this movie by director Stanley Kubrick.
- For those who doubt the veracity of #2, please see the 1997 "The Shining" mini-series created by Stephen King for ample proof.
Why The Shining Is So Horrifying
One of the reasons "The Shining" is such a mind fuck is the fact that Kubrick takes things that are supposed to be positive images and turns them into nightmares. Take for example, twin girls. As a boy, you are supposed to associate twins with positive events. Instead, Kubrick shows us shots of the girls cut up so finely that Lindsay Lohan would totally snort them. To make matters worse, the madman works in a tricycle or Big Wheel type thing into his house of horrors. Thanks to Stanley, I didn't ride my Big Wheel ever again after seeing "The Shining" and that's pretty fucked up, man. He took away a part of my childhood and hide it anyway somewhere in his big bushy beard or perhaps Amazonian eyebrows.
Another sick thing that Kubrick did with this movie was the scene where he included this hot, All-American babe:
only to turn her into this monstrous vision:
As a nine year-old, this initial glimpse of female naughty bits was already enough of a sensation for me. Why, dear sweet Jesus, did Stanley have to morph her into zombie nana? This had the dual effect on me of avoiding the shower and my elderly relatives for months.
Should I Watch it?
Of course, you should watch it, provided you are not a 9 year-old. It's still the best horror movie of its generation, blowing "The Exorcist" and "The Omen" straight out of the water. The only movie comparable is "The Ring", which is terrifying, but that's primarily due to the fact that the entire cast is Japanese, I think.
well this is quite sad. kubrick didn't "takes things that are supposed to be positive images and turns them into nightmares."
Replythat came directly from the author. and, honestly if you've read the book, he really missed so much of what was important to the story. the reason this was frightening had nothing to do with the director, had a whole lot to do with the writer. and the story is what is piss your pants scary. pretty sure any idiot with access to what kubrick had could do as well. it isn't as though this was his brainchild. jesustits.
No, I saw the miniseries. Uttery painful. Kubrick and King are both geniuses, but King doesn't understand that what Kubrick does works much better on film. Kubrick coudnt write the book, no, but King sure as hell can't make the film.