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Monday, October 29, 2012

31 Days Of Horror Day 29: The Shining

Heeeeeeeere's director Jason Christopher on the 1980 masterpiece The Shining as this special month long event celebrating horror hunkers down for a long Winter season.


I really didn’t want to put this movie on the list because it’s so expected. But, hot damn, this movie really is perfect. In 1980, Stanley Kubrick came out with The Shining. The movie changed the face of filmmaking. NOW, I don’t really like considering this movie a horror. To me, the movie is a horror movie but it’s shot like a drama. It’s fantastic the way Kubrick put this movie together.

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) comes to the elegant, isolated Overlook Hotel as its new off-season caretaker with his wife (Shelly Duvall) and son (Danny Loyyd). Jack has never been there before – or has he? The answer lies in a ghostly time warp of madness and murder.

The movie has this slow eerie pace to it but you love it. You can’t do anything but stay focused on this story. For a horror movie, the flick runs 144 minutes, lots of story going on here.

The score for this movie is real chilling. All the original music was by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind but featuring one of my favorite artists: Krzysztof Penderecki. Really enjoy this guys music, utterly haunting and amazing. I love his work. You can hear his work as well in The Exorcist, Shutter Island, and plenty more.

Kubrick brings his A game for this movie. Who can top his own movie every time? This guy. From the Killing to Lolita, Dr. Strangelove to 2001, A Clockwork Orange to The Shining.  And the dude just kept getting better and better! The scenery in this movie, the tracking shots,  the score, and the editing…amazing!

I’m sure you’ve seen The Shining already but if you haven’t yet…please get the hell up and go buy this movie! It’s great for the Halloween season and any other time of the year.

2 days till Halloween.

-Jay

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