The Shining (15)

Kubrick's eerie horror genre piece remains spooky decades later. Comments that he does not explore character psychology are true for most if not all of his films - it is the Kubrick style (or intent or flaw, depending on your perspective) that his characters are portrayed as slightly dehumanized. Would you degrade masterpieces such as Dr. Strangelove or 2001 because we don't have a true sense of the inner machinations for the leads?

I agree with this review. While some of the imagery is memorable, as with other Kubrick films, the story and character development makes me wish he'd kept himself to cinematography.

i disagree with time out film guide's review. This is the only horror-epic after the exorcist and is undoubtedly the most unconventional story-telling in horror film genre. This movie has most exquisite tracking shots in film history and great visual treat. Jack Nicholson portrays a caretaker, who was a formerly school teacher and is a writer. As soon as one sees the character of jack nicholson and knows his temparaments, you are grabbed with great sense of fear as the family are experiencing great deal of isolation and are facing terrors of previous event. The aerial shots gives us the feeling that it is going to separate us from many worldly things. Jack Nicholson's character has many physical-ballet like actions and traces of it, which i believe one can find it in the performances of leonardo di caprio after 1990's. The hotel is more like a sinister, and again, as almost all of Stanley Kubrick's films, this has the quality of repetitive viewing. The Shining has definitely brought out one of the memorable images and true sense of photography in it. Superb cinematography, this is a must-watch!!!