Monday, June 15, 2009

MEMOIRS FROM THE OVERLOOK HOTEL
















I was first recommended to watch this movie in my 12th standard by my class mate Tom...No other movie of Kubrick ( my fav director ) has been thrashed as much as The Shining...but i still say that the Shining is a MASTERPIECE, even Stephen King himself was not happy with Kubrick's adaptation...


adapted from the Stephen King bestseller of the same name released in 1977 i read the novel during my undergraduate days....i still get the creeps thinking about it...the story revolves around Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson even though over the top sometimes is simply outstanding in a landmark performance), his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall who would later appear in the inconsequential Popeye) and their young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) who arrive at the Overlook Hotel...

Jack is a recovering alcoholic and a wife beater to boot...the scene when the hallway is overflowing with blood is spine chilling...another interesting sequence i admired when Jack meets the ghostly bartender...plus the scene when Wendy discovers that Jack has been typing the same line again and again on his typewriter...I have observed that Jack Nicholson's eyes resembles that of a cat...that is why his eyes in this particular scene is so damn scary!!!! Which brings me to the immortal scene of Jack plunging an axe through the door and saying “HERE’S JOHNNY!!!!!!!!”

the movie indicates what can happen to an individual in case of extremely loneliness which turn into madness, writers block... how one can develop hallucinations...the final image of Jack looking for his son with rage in his eyes is also creepy!!!! Now regarded as a classic, The Shining released in 1980 is filled with excellent direction, creepy score, great editing and photography!!!

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