Kubrick's The Shining

[imported_The Vibesman]

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I'd also vote for Mystic River.

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No fricken way. Mystic River's an absolutely fantastic novel, and I honestly thought it was right up Eastwood's alley and that he would hit a home run with it, but the movie was sorely lacking. Don't get me wrong, it was good, and most of the performances were great, but it missed so much emotion and meaning from the book. It's just a straight-up retell of the relevant scenes to move the story along.

Anyone who did like the book at all, btw, should also pick up all of Dennis Lehane's other novels, all of which are fantastic.

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P.S. -- the hedge maze scene in the book was easily one of the best, and it is missing from the movie. Although it would have been hard to create with the special effects of the day, it was a gigantic loss.


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I don't remember a hedge maze in the book. Just the topiary animals, as in the miniseries.

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That's what I meant. The hedge maze is in the movie, and didn't need any tough effects. The topiary animals were missing, though most people at the time kind of understood that they probably would be, as animating that well would have probably cost a ton and maybe not looked very good no matter how much money got spent. If it was done today, it could probably be really good.

[thatpfunk]

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If it was done today, it could probably be really good.

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Your dream cast... Go!

[thatpfunk]

My dream cast for a Shining remake (answering my own question):

Norton or Spacey
Jodie Foster (can't really think of a female at the moment)
Any kid, but they'd probably change it to a girl and cast Dakota Fanning

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I also can't agree about the casting, I think it's terrible all around, especially Shelley Duvall. Nicholson is too over-the-top, from the very first scene (interview) he seems like a psycho.


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I didn't like Shelley Duvall either at first, but I mostly meant the old caretaker/butler looking guy, and Nicholson, who despite being over the top from the start and way too predictable as a casting choice, still pulled off some excellent scenes anyway. It was like Kubrick was fighting the material, not using it, in many ways, and using the most glaringly obvious casting. Yet somehow Nicholson still didn't screw up entirely; it wasn't as good as The Shining that Stephen King wrote by a long shot, but Nicholson still did very well on his own terms. The beginning, where he does the interview already seeming a little crazy, is actually very good. His craziness isn't blithering and raving, but it creates a real sense of creepiness, and the managers seem extremely unethical in even considering taking Nicholson. It's one of those very tense, borderline social situations where something is drastically wrong but you can't quite come out and say it and would really like to just escape. It was a good scene. Very few of Nicholson's scenes weren't, despite the fact that so many were way over the top. Nicholson made Kubrick's bad choices work in terms of Kubrick's film -- which was not the film the Shining could have or should have been. It was its own special kind of mess.

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Kubrick really didn't seem to understand what a horror film was while he was making this. This scene is one of the worst, for the reasons you describe, and also because, well, it's ridiculous. Crothers is psychic, he knows what's going on in the damn hotel, that's why he rode hundreds of miles to get there. When he does get there, he walks practically naked down a dark hallway saying, "Hello? Is anyone here?" Friday The 13th has more realistic scenes in it.


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Yup. Dumbest psychic ever. What a sad waste of film time. I mean, this took up quite a bit of time and emphasis and just gave us nothing.

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Oh, and the kid talking to his finger all day long - that was just silly.


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Yep. And the famous "redrum" bit with the backwards R was stupid too. Can't remember if that was in the book or not; read the book more than 20 years ago.

I agree it was a really good book too, once it started going, which it took quite a while to do. Obviously King was on fire there, and it shows what happens when you really believe in your material. Too bad Kubrick didn't.

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I always thought Kubrick's film was one of the best horror films ever made, possibly the best.

Then I read the book (which is great) last summer and found out Kubrick didn't stay true to King's book.

Now I think that Kubrick's film is one of the best horror films ever made, possibly the best.

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Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and so are you, but there's no way in hell this was the best horror film ever made. It uses the trappings of horror well sometimes and has some good moments, but it doesn't hold a candle to films like The Haunting, The Exorcist, Theater of Blood, Diary of a Madman, House of Dark Shadows, The Wolfman, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Nosferatu, etc. etc.

The Shining is chock full of flaws. I like it a lot and have probably seen it 20 times. A great horror movie? Nah. Plenty of incredibly redeeming moments and some good atmosphere? Heck yeah.

[thatpfunk]

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Yup. Dumbest psychic ever. What a sad waste of film time. I mean, this took up quite a bit of time and emphasis and just gave us nothing.

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If I remember correctly he wasn't exactly pyschic. He and the boy held a special bond and it was actually the boy who was psychic and it was the boys powers that called him there.

I had read the book first and I thought it was really dumb that they had changed it so drastically. I thought the father/son- to new father was a strong aspect of the novel.

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Yup. Dumbest psychic ever. What a sad waste of film time. I mean, this took up quite a bit of time and emphasis and just gave us nothing.

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If I remember correctly he wasn't exactly pyschic. He and the boy held a special bond and it was actually the boy who was psychic and it was the boys powers that called him there.

I had read the book first and I thought it was really dumb that they had changed it so drastically. I thought the father/son- to new father was a strong aspect of the novel.

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I read the book 20 years ago and haven't seen the movie in many years, so I don't recall things exactly, but Scatman Crothers was the one who recognized the Shining in the boy, and was able to receive his psychic transmissions; that just seems psychic to me. Nobody else knew the boy had The Shining or was able to receive his mental call, because nobody else was psychic.

Maybe my understanding or memory of it is just clumsy. It's been a while since I've seen the movie, and I'm just noting what seems to make sense according to my memory. I don't seem to recall feeling that Crothers wasn't psychic, and it doesn't seem to make sense to me that he wasn't. I dunno.

Nothing compares to the book, but Kubrick did a really solid job. Nicholson does a great job, maybe his best work. The wife also is scary because of her eyes. The book is a lot more terrifying though overall.

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If it was done today, it could probably be really good.

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Your dream cast... Go!

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Wow, Spacey is a very good choice. He can be very calm, but always seems to have something hidden under the surface that is sometimes scary and volcanic.

For some reason Tim Robbins comes to mind. He has the patheticness and hints of weakness, and his ordinary nice-guyness would make it easy to identify with his every feeling and fear as he slowly goes nuts. You could definitely see him being a loving father who is terribly haunted by the guilt of his past outbursts against his child and scared that he might repeat them. He seems like a nice guy, a little weak and overwhelmed by life, who might be ready to starting to slip downhill after a few bad outcomes.

This one could use some real thinking. I bet there are a lot of ways to play the casting of the male lead.

I agree that any kid could do. It's been too many years since I read the book to remember much about the wife or have an idea how to cast her.