What can you say when it comes to Stephen King’s iconic horror; its emphasis on the paranormal and psychological, set it aside from other typical slashers and its character develpoment is masterfully executed by the cast, making it a classic of the horror genre and a stunning piece of cinematography. Jack Nicholson stars as Jack Torrance – a writer from Boulder who takes up a caretaking job in a mountain hotel in Colorado – as well as Shelley Duval as his wife Wendy and Danny Lloyd as his “gifted” son Danny.
After a snow storm isolates Jack Torrance and his family up ina mountain hotel, he decides that its the perfect opportunity to write given the peace and solitude, hence distancing himself from his wife Wendy and son Danny. As the hotel’s manager leaves for the off-season he explains that the hotel is built upon an old native-american burial ground and utters a sinister warning that, given the isolation on account of the snow, the previous caretaker developed cabin-fever, murdering himself and his family in a crazed sense of psychosis.
As Jack realises he’s getting nowhere with his writing, and becoming increasingly frustrated because of it, he begins to act differently – his wife begins to fear for the family’s well-being and urges him to leave the hotel with Danny. As Jack begins to experience a number of other-worldly incidents and with Danny in a trance-like state, it soon becomes clear that something in the hotel doesn’t want the family to stay and is willing to kill to make its message known.
The Shining – Sunday 9:00pm on TCM.
