The Shining proves that a horror film doesn't have to be scary to be great. First, it is not fair to compare the film to Stephen King's book, as the two are very different experiences. King wants us to get sucked in to the lives of the characters and to achieve a sense of foreboding as a loving father turns homicidal via a very gradual process. Kubrick wants to show us the workings of a homicidal man.

As to the film itself, It starts off par for the course forhorror films with arial shots both beautiful and subtly menacing in the remoteness of the landscape. This sets the tone for the film well, but not particularly exceptional. The film itself is a string of tension and anticlimax, a cycle that not only keeps the audience on its feet, as we expect something more shocking with each complete cycle, but also gives the film a natural rhythm that makes the film very watchable. Much of the genius is in Kubrick's use of photography, making the background an integral part of the characters' psyches. The best example I can think of is when we zoom in from above on the gargantuan maze, with Wendy and Danny in its centre. The maze clearly represents Jack's inner turmoil and confusion, with his wife and son obviously at the center of it.

There are flaws in the film, the majority of which are most probably due to poor relations between Kubrick and King during the making of the film. The result is a slightly schizophrenic feel to the film in regards to the clear supernatural elements in the book. I feel that bringing in the supernatural in any unambiguous way in the film is most certainly detrimental to it. Too much and it becomes an amityville horror rip-off. Most of the supernatural remnants in the film are best explained, in my opinion, by them being the typical egocentric fantasy. Note that throughout the fantasies of Jack there is a reoccurring theme that Jack is the most important one, whilst the woman in room 237 is the fear of impotency and the emotional distance between him and his wife. Typical paranoia then sets in.

Lastly, the acting is a mixed bag. While Jack NichlsonIs undeniably brilliant and turns the film from very good to great, Shelley Duvall is atrocious to the point that I was longing for an axe in her back. the rest of the cast are competent enough.