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The Shining (Movie)
Posted by on July 31, 2010
I read the book (read my review in here) early this year and have been wondering about the movie ever since. Well, I always want to watch every movie that was made based on the Great Stephen King’s books. When I was reading the book, I pretty much sure that I had watched the movie…But I was 100% wrong!!
I tried finding the DVD but couldn’t find it. I have to say that I’m glad I couldn’t find the DVD because I ended up downloading it…And why did I say I’m glad I didn’t buy the DVD? because…I will regret ever spending my money on it. THE MOVIE SUCKS!!!
This review is full of spoiler, so if you hate spoiler…feel free to walk away. If you like the movie…once again I’m going to say, feel free to leave this post un-read.
I download The Shining 2 months ago, but something always kept me from watching it. Last night, I finally decided to watch it. The cast were Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance; Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance and Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance. It was directed by Stanley Kubrick.
At the beginning, the story was the same as the book, I can understand the changes they made in some details…however, when the movie reached half of the story, they changed lots of things!! And it annoyed me, they erased the good stuffs!! The scary topiary were gone…it was supposed to be the scariest part of the story. The woman in room 237 was soooo NOT scary at all and they didn’t even show the most thrilling part in room 237, when she grabbed Danny. And to top it all, Dick Hallorann just died without a fight?? What the hell is that?? And let’s make the ending as cliché as most horror movies, let’s keep the hotel alive.
I got totally bored somewhere in the middle, especially when I found out that the topiary animals were gone from the scene.
So, the next question is…what makes me continue watching it? Jack Nicholson and Danny Lloyd!! Jack Nicholson was brilliant there…he was so perfect as Jack Torrance and little Danny was also incredible. These two actors able to stop me from stopping the movie and hit the delete button on my keyboard. As for Shelley Duvall, jezzz…can they pick a better actress? Her acting totally ruined the atmosphere…especially when she was trying to look scare.
Thumbs up for Jack Nicholson and Danny Lloyd and lot of thumbs down for the ones who wrote the screenplay and for Shelley Duvall. I give thumbs up to Stanley Kubrick for keeping the thrill going on (when I pretended that I haven’t read the book yet).
Overall, although I gave the book 5 stars, I gave the movie 1 Star, which means I don’t like it. Right after I wrote this, I deleted the file, I didn’t even want to burn it into DVD or save it in my hard disc.
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I’m sharing this review for my 4th post on Read the Book Watch the Movie Challenge.
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16 Responses to The Shining (Movie)
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Ooooooooo. Harsh. This makes me want to find another old Hollywood horror classic and get your take.
I actually always appreciated the omission of the topiary animals. I don’t think Special FX technology at the time would have been capable, and they wouldn’t have worked with the subtler adaptation the Kubrick was going for.
Shelly Duvall does get annoying here and there.
I love when Duvall interrupts him when he’s working. Classic scene.
Great review! I look forward to reading more on your site!
Hehehe … don’t tell me I didn’t warn you
My friend said she likes reading my review because I’m honest and not trying to make something looks good even though I think it’s not good.
I like The Exorcist, Thinner, Sixth Sense, and some others that I can’t remember anymore (I mean, the title).
I admit that I’m harsh on movie based on book if it didn’t live up to the book’s greatness, but I also praise the good ones such as The Lord of The Rings.
About the effect, I think making topiary is easier than the effect in Starwars…so if he wanted to do it, the technology was good enough.
Thx for the compliment
He? Thinner? That is the coolest thriller movie I’ve seen and scared me in unexplainable way.
Btw, I’ve never read Stephen Kings books. But, I’ve seen one movie and one mini series based on his novels.
Dreamcatcher’s ending is really disappointing. What I mean is, the mystery of the kid is ruined by the fact that he is an alien (?). I wonder whether the novel has the same ending.
The mini-series, I forgot the title. It tells a story about a weird house with garden full of animal-shaped plants. Do you know the title? I’ve never finished the series, but I kinda want to watch it again.
The thinner is the reason I fell deeply in love with Stephen King…I want to read All his books, I’m not even half of them yet because SK has written lots of books. I’m addicted to his books.
Nope, dreamcatcher has different ending…if you type Dreamcather in my blog’s search, you will find both review of the book and the movie.
The mini series you are talking about is The Shining…I knew that The Shining was remade into a mini-series and they keep the topiary (animal shaped plant). But I haven’t seen it yet….maybe it’ll be better than the movie, coz I hate the movie.
E–h, jadi Thinner itu karangannya Stephen King toh.
Ga ngeh deh. Kalo begitu gue udah pernah liat 2 film dong.
E–h(yang kedua :p), jadi judulnya The Shining toh. Wehehehe, bener2 kebetulan sekali dong. Kalo mini seriesnya lumayan sih… tapi ya itu, gue belum sampe ending. Jadi ga bisa memutuskan bagus atau tidak.
Gw pengen nntn…tp ntah dimana nyarinya
… hehehe gw sih emang mau nntn semua film dr buku Stephen King 
Well I guess I am at the opposite side of your review here since I only watched the movie and never read the book so I never knew anything better…books usually are better than film but I agree with you on Jack and Danny’s performance…top notch indeed. I finally saw the film only a few years ago myself.
This film did however inspire my teaser trailer for my upcoming music album called project “Threshold”…here it is:
Hi Rogers, I checked your link…and found out that you’re a film composer, that’s so cool!!
I never thought that this post will be commented by 2 people in movie/film bussiness…I’m so happy for that
Yeah, maybe it’ll be good if I didn’t read the book 1st, therefore I don’t have any expectation on the film. Jack is always brilliant! I wonder what happen to Danny now?
I’ll check your youtube link later
probably on Saturday which is my schedule to go to Internet rental. I’m using mobilephone now.
Maybe you had watched the Shining before this movie. There was a the Shining tv mini-series in 1997. The teleplay was written by Stephen King himself, apparently he was unhappy with some omissions in the Shining, the movie.
Was there topiary animals in the tv mini-series?
I could have swore I’ve seen scary moving topiary animal somewhere…but I couldn’t remember where and when. If the mini series has it…I probably had watched it.
This film just works so well at creeping the hell out of me every time I see it. Perfect directing job from the always reliable Mr. Stanley Kubrick.
I’m glad you like it, there are always two kinds of feeling toward a movie, like it or hate it.
Great post on this, Novroz. You have give your honest opinion and you expressed it well. When I first saw ‘The Shining’, like Stephen King and many of his fans, I didn’t like its adaptation to the screen. However, revisiting it many years later I finally came to the conclusion it is an excellent Kubrick film, and appreciate solely on those grounds now. Thanks.
Thank you Mike
I am glad none of The Shining Fans hated me for this…I really can’t like the movie…yet. Maybe when I revisit it years2 and years afterward I can have the same feeling as you but for now, I am still considering the shining as one of the worst adaptations
You almost have to treat the novel and the movie as two completely different entities. The movie cut most of the plot of the book, and Kubrick instead made a film based on mood and weird imagery. It’s the feeling that the movie evokes that makes people love it so much, but purists expecting the story from the book are disappointed. The topiary scene in the book kept me on the edge of my seat, but I love the hedge maze in the movie, too. You’re right about how killing off Halloran served no purpose, other than maybe to shock the people who expected him to save the family. I also thought the croquet mallet in the book was far creepier than an ax.
I have been living with book for as much I have been living with movie…it’s so hard to treat them differently. When a movie based on book was released, I can’t stop comparing it…unless I saw the movie first like Ringu. The movie and the novel were VERY different but I love both because I saw the movie before I read the book. As for The Shining, unfortunately I read it first and I love the book. If the changes were good, I won’t mind at all…just like The Mist, the ending was changed but it was a good change.