D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die…
The Shining, 1980.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers and Philip Stone.
Stanley Kubrick’s psychological horror based upon Stephen King’s novel of the same name is a classic and unnerving film about a writer who is driven to madness and tries to murder his wife and son.
Jack (Nicholson) takes a job as the caretaker of an isolated hotel during its off season and he, his wife Wendy (Duvall) and son Danny (Lloyd) plan to live in the deserted old building alone over the winter months. Shortly after their arrival a snowstorm blows in and the family become trapped within the hotel. Jack’s young son develops psychic abilities and begins to see the ghosts that roam the corridors and rooms of the hotel. Jack himself is driven to madness and tries to murder his wife and son.
The Shining is regarded as one of the best horrors ever made and has influenced countless films that followed in the genre, as well as across popular culture. Some iconic images like Jack’s son riding his bike around the long corridors of the hotel has been mimicked, lampooned and recreating many times over as well as being quoted or mentioned within so many films. Kubrick’s filmmaking techniques in The Shining have been borrowed and stolen so many times since its release, but one more so than any other…
The Shining is a film you must see before you die as it has offered the world one of the most iconic images and lines of dialogue in film history with Jack breaking through a wooden door with an axe as has family cowers on the other side. He pokes his head through the crack in the door and delivers the line, “Here’s Johnny!”
D.J. Haza
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Originally published April 18, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
