Rating: 
Summary: Don't listen to the nevel purist.
Review: I'm sorry but I found the movie far scarier and and more entertaining that the book. Stephen King needs to take some lessons from this guy. This version is better than it's ... made for t.v. remake and it is one of the scariest movies out there. Just watch this one alone in the dark, and see what I mean.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Enough Spice
Review: This movie was so long. When I watched it on cable last week, it was even longer because of the commercials. There wasn't enough characters in the film. Sometimes there are too many characters in a film that I get them mixed up like the movie Clue. This movie had so few characters that it was becoming mundane. Mr. Nicholson is a good actor, but the amount of screenplay he had in this film was a bit too much. I also didn't like the way the only African American character was portrayed. It seems like in every sci-fi/horror/thriller, the African American character always dies. For instance in the film Alien, I was hoping that the African American character and the cat would be the only two survivors. Guess what, only the cat survived. I guess you can't win all the time. Then in the film Midnight Cowboy, the Dustin Hoffman character (Ratso)dies on the bus. I thought that was the biggest surprise death in a film, but then I see this film the Shining and Jack Nicolson's charcter dies. I'm thinking no way is he going to die. I mean how can a defenseless woman and little kid beat a derange Jack? Plus Jack has friends that are ghosts. Overall, this is one of Jack's worst films. If you want to see a better one with Jack, check out The Witches of eastwick. That stunk too but it was better than this.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing! No wonder it scared me as a child
Review: Summary:
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is a writer looking for some time to get away from the hectic humdrum of modern life so he can focus on writing. Hearing that a a Colorado resort, The Overlook Motel, closes for the winter because of extremely deep snow but needs a maintenance person to stay there during the winter months to prevent major damage, he signs up, bringing along his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd)...My Comments:
I remember seeing this on TV (edited obviously) when I was younger, but I didn't remember much of it by the time I watched it again, just a few shots of Jack Nicholson's crazed face. I can only guess that I tried to forget it as a child so I could sleep. This must be a very disturbing movie for children seeing as how Danny's father, one of the people he is supposed to be able to trust, is trying to kill him. Of course, I'm no longer a child and my opinions have changed. Watching this as an adult I found the movie to be absolutely entrancing. There are some problems, of course, but nothing particularly major. First, as the movie worked its way into the depths of Jack's mania my wife and I were discussing what we believed would happen (I really couldn't remember the plot, so this was a fair discussion). It wasn't that hard to guess based upon the setup - ... But despite knowing pretty much what was going to happen, there were still a number of unpredictable surprises. I found the delusional conversations with people out of the past of the motel to be particularly engaging. The other problem I had with the movie was Shelley Duvall. Is she not the biggest whiner and wimp you have ever seen? I think it really came out in the 'making of' featurette that she is all about getting attention; she's like a spoiled child. Perhaps this worked perfectly for her role, her constant crying and giving in to Jack, but just the story itself and the performance by Jack Nicholson were probably enough to guarantee that whoever played his counterpart would be good. Not that I can really question Kubrick's decision, it did, after all, work very well, but Duvall is still whiney and annoying. One final comment about the special featurette on the DVD... Though the behind the scenes shots included in the featurette were very interesting and gave a nice additional perspective to what was going on, Vivian Kubrick is not Stanley. Apparently she hasn't tried to hard to follow in her father's footsteps, thank goodness. I don't know how you could really spoil the 'making of' featurette of this movie because pretty much everything about the movie is fascinating, but the way she arranges the clips and includes some bizarre shots is more distracting than entertaining and educational. There isn't really much of a need to be overly artistic with a 'making of' video. Overall, I don't think I would recommend this movie for children. However, after having seen it I think I'd like to visit the 'real' Overlook Motel (the outside shots were of Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon) to get a pictures; I drove through Fargo, ND for the same reason. It's a great movie with a classic performance by Jack Nicholas. If you want to be entertained by a classy thriller, see The Shining.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrid Adaptation, Boring Horror
Review: Throwing away the (far superior) novel by Stephen King, highly overrated director Kubrick fashions a sometimes creepy, usually cheesy horror flick. Nicholson does his best, but can't rise above the medicore script and direction. Grossly overrated junk avoidable by all but the people who worship anything Kubrick made, including sandwiches.
Rating:
Summary: Just As Good As The Remake!
Review: When I first saw this movie I liked it but was disappointed that they left out great things form the book but it's great to watch it and see the scary and funny all work and no play scene and the scary and funny Here's Johnny scene where a manic Jack Torrance played by Jack Nicholson busts through the door with an axe and the scenes with the hotels maze is awesome. And when I want to watch a version more like te book I can just pop my DVD of the mini series remake in the VCR and I recommend both movies but I have to say Im disappointed that they didn't put out a widescreen DVD for this Kubrick/Nicholson version but it doesn't look like a widescreen DVD will ever be a reality for this movie!
Rating:
Summary: The most overrated horror movie ever.
Review: I'm sorry, but I think "The Shining" is a completely overrated horror film. I had heard about how incredibly scary it was, but when I saw it, I was so disappointed. Some scenes were creepy, but overall, it just wasn't enough. Most of the film moved so unbearably slowly that my patience was lost at about the one-hour mark. Director Stanley Kubrick probably likes to do this: wear out the viewer's welcome by letting a film drag on forever. He did this with "2001: A Space Odyssey", and he does it again here. These two films are both visually stimulating, but they don't resonate with the viewer emotionally. Both story and character development are compromised by the dazzling but dull visual details that Kubrick brings to the table. Jack Nicholson and Scatman Crothers are both great actors in this film, but Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd are rather dull and lifeless. In the end, if you want a good psychological thriller, see "Misery" or "One Hour Photo" instead of "The Shining".
Rating:
Summary: Jack Nicholson's tour-de-force.
Review: This is not the extended version with never-before-seen footage. Beautiful locations. The creepiest music ever made for a film guaranteed to give you goosebumps. Only Jack Nicholson could play this part so convincingly. Scatman Crothers was known at the time as a regular on the NBC tv series "Chico And The Man" and further back Los Angeles knew him on KTLA Channel 5. Shelley DuVall is also perfectly cast. You never suspect anything could happen to her or should I say shouldn't happen to her. Very effective piece of drama-horror. Best realistic indoor hotel sets I've ever seen. This film is not for children. ADULTS ONLY! Yes! This is the film you see in the drive-in scenes in the film TWISTER. DVD includes "Making The Shining" documentary. it is 35 minutes long. You can watch the documentary straight or with new Audio Commentary by Vivian Kubrick. Film shown in Full Screen.
Rating:
Summary: scarry movie and interesting plot
Review: I rented this vhs when i was young, i saw it w/a friend but it didnt really scare me, probably because there was only one murder throughout the whole movie. Now much older, i recently rented this dvd and it scared me half to death. The horror in this movie is jack's slow decent in to madness and the helplesness of the family, not so much the slaying that occurs. The movie is long, but the interesting plot allows the viewer not to get bored w/it. now im not a film critic or anything so im probably missing the true meaning of some scenes. The bathroom scene shows jack go into a hotel room to investigate the possibility of a crazy woman staying in a room. when jack arrives, a beautiful naked woman arrises from the tub. they begin to make out, then jack snapps out of it and realizes he is kissing a decaying corpse. i guess that was supposed to highlight his madness. another scene i didnt get, was when jack failed killing wendy, he ran to try to kill danny. once jack was out of sight, wendy went to find danny and escape from the hotel. As wendy was scurring through the hotel she began to see the ghosts jack interacted with. my question is when she ran upstairs a door was open, she sees a guy in a bear costume on his knees leaning over a bed. when the bear realizes wendy is there he stops what he is doing and gives her an embarrassed look, then we see another guy sit up on the bed and turn to wendy to give her an evil look. what was the bear doing to the guy laying on the bed before the party was broken up, if it is what i think it was stanley kubrick better grow up
Rating:
Summary: The dullest [and most boring] horror movie I've ever seen.
Review: "The Shining" is a film that I had high expectations for, and after seeing it, I was so disappointed. I had heard so much about how extraordinarily scary and terrifying it was. What I got was an extraordinarily dull, deadly, and hypnotic experience. The film is way too long and slow, relying on Stanley Kubrick's dull visuals and long shots to scare you. There were a few good things in it, like the two great actors Jack Nicholson and Scatman Crothers. But Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd are different stories. Duvall looks like a walking-dead skull, and Danny is mostly just a blank-faced zombie. What made me more angry was that I never really felt he was in danger. I was almost ready to slap him because of his dull presence. This is one time that I agree with Leonard Maltin on a movie. In his review, he said "Some eerie scenes to be sure, but the film goes on forever." And believe me, it does.
Rating:
Summary: I like this version better.
Review: This version was actually scary! Ended the way a horror film was suppose to. This is very moody and has alot of atmosphere. Very Scary too. This is a must see. The Shining (1980) is creative director Stanley Kubrick's intense, epic, gothic horror film masterpiece - a beautiful, stylish work that distanced itself from the blood-letting and gore of most modern films in the horror genre. (The film waits until its climax to provide the typical catharctic bloody violence of most traditional horror films.) The film's source material from science-fiction/horror author Stephen King's 1977 best-selling novel (his third novel under his own name) by the same name, bears little resemblance to Kubrick's creation. But his version was so much better. Come on Stephen King, just face it, this guy's version was scarier!
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