- Film Review
- Reviewed By Adrian Turner
-
5 out of 5
Stanley Kubrick's superb adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and young Danny Lloyd as the family that is invited to look after a remote mountain hotel when it's closed for the winter. It's not long before Nicholson becomes unhinged as a series of apparitions, hallucinations and time-warps begins to affect his sanity. Trust Kubrick to be different: this horror film chills rather than shocks, works by stealth and provides nothing but eerie discomfort. Filmed on an amazing set built at Elstree (the opening aerial scenes were shot by Kubrick's daughter at the Timberline Lodge in Oregon) using a gliding Steadicam throughout, the movie boasts a technique that's as overpowering as Nicholson's performance, which is both hammy and deeply disturbing. An extended version was released in 2012.
Plot Summary
An aspiring writer takes a caretaking job at a remote mountain hotel. It has closed for the winter, and he has been hired to get the place ready for the next season. But evil spirits haunting its corridors destroy his sanity, causing the unhinged author to rampage through the hotel and terrorise his wife and young son. Stanley Kubrick's horror, based on the Stephen King novel, with Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Jack Torrance
- Jack Nicholson
- Wendy Torrance
- Shelley Duvall
- Danny
- Danny Lloyd
- Dick Hallorann
- Scatman Crothers
- Ullman
- Barry Nelson
- Grady
- Philip Stone
- Lloyd
- Joe Turkel
- Doctor
- Anne Jackson
- Durkin
- Tony Burton
- Young woman in bathtub
- Lia Beldam
- Watson
- Barry Dennen
- Old woman in bathtub
- Billie Gibson
- Forest ranger
- David Baxt
- Forest ranger
- Manning Redwood
- Grady girl
- Lisa Burns
- Grady girl
- Louise Burns
- Nurse
- Robin Pappas
- Secretary
- Alison Coleridge
- Policeman
- Burnell Tucker
- Stewardess
- Jana Sheldon
- Receptionist
- Kate Phelps
Crew
- Director
- Stanley Kubrick
- Share this episode
-