The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick’s much analysed and often spoofed psychological horror spends a chilling and claustrophobic winter at the empty Overlook Hotel.

Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel makes terrific use of the remote, empty Overlook Hotel, the rambling old heap where writer Jack (Jack Nicholson) retreats with his wife and son while working as the winter janitor. But are the strange events evidence of the building’s troubled history or of the frustrated author’s inner torment? Either way, the past hangs dangerously heavy...

“Majestic, febrile, foreboding – truly haunting, literally and figuratively.” Jane Crowther

“Reviled on release for hokey misreading of horror, an indelible influence on the genre ever since. Few films introduce a new way of seeing: the Steadicam glides here introduce a whole new cinematic emotion.” Roger Luckhurst

“With The Shining, Stanley Kubrick created a slow-burning beast of atmosphere and menace. It is a chilling and beautiful maze of a film; a stone-cold classic horror.” Sophie Brown

“Technically innovative with heightened, but finely calibrated performances, it always gets my mind racing with questions, some deliberately unanswerable.” James Kleinmann

1980 USA, United Kingdom
Directed by
Stanley Kubrick
Produced by
Stanley Kubrick
Written by
Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson
Featuring
Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
Running time
146 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for The Shining

Critics

Margit Adorf
Estonia
Nemanja Becanovic
Montenegro
Sophie Brown
UK
Felicity Chaplin
Australia
Jane Crowther
UK
Tóth Csaba
Hungary
Mar Diestro-Dópido
UK
Radmila Djurica
Serbia
Karoline Eriksson
Sweden
Euan Franklin
UK
Bruce Hodsdon
Australia
Wendy Ide
UK
James Kleinmann
USA
Tomasz Kolankiewicz
Poland
Lars Ole Kristiansen
Norway
Danny Leigh
UK
Johannes Lõhmus
Estonia
Roger Luckhurst
UK
Sarah Lutton
UK
Ross Maclean
UK
Vishal Menon
India
Ben Mitchell
UK
Mike Muncer
UK
Adam Nayman
Canada
Jaanus Noormets
Estonia
Dejan Ognjanović
Serbia
Xavier Pérez
Spain
Nicolas Rapold
USA
Tim Robey
UK
Baptiste Roux
France
Damon Smith
UK
Michelle Swope
USA
Kaspar Viilup
Estonia

Directors

Steve Barron
United Kingdom
Stephen Cone
USA
Matty Crawford
UK
Sean Durkin
USA
Clea DuVall
Abel Ferrara
USA
Michel Hazanavicius
France
Márta Mészáros
Hungary

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