Shining

Der typische Stanley Kubrick. In dem Film ist jeder Augenblick ein Teil eines durchgearbeiteten Mosaiks eines psychologischen Labyrinths. Alles hat ein perfektes Timing, alles ist zügig. Die Kamera bewegt sich die meiste Zeit in rechten Winkeln und in Parallelen zu den Wänden des schablonenhaften Hotels. In der Musik erklingen nur Töne, die erklingen müssen. Der bildkünstlerische sowie musikalische Minimalismus verstärkt perfekt das beklemmende Gefühl aus dem leeren Milieu, in dem sich die Geschichte abspielt. Jack Nicholson beobachtet man nicht nur als Filmfigur. Dank der visuell naturalistischen Regie-Darbietung von Kubrick werden wir wie er. So wie er werden wir immer nervöser, bis man Angst hat, was wir an seiner Stelle machen würden. Shining kann man eigentlich nicht als "Horrorfilm" bezeichnen. Diese Bezeichnung ist für gewöhnliche Horrorfilme für eine Genre-Unterhaltung gedacht. Es ist schade, dass mir seine Kälte und das präzise Kalkül nicht ermöglichen, die Geschichte der Hauptfiguren anders als nur im Kopf zu durchleben. Trotzdem gebe ich dem Film fünf Sterne. Ich respektiere Kubricks unpersönlichen Weg, den er gewählt hat, weil ich in dieser Verrücktheit jedes Mal etwas Neues finden werde. (05.06.2002)

The excellent minimalist soundtrack couldn't be better, and some scenes, especially the bathroom scene and the boy's vision of dismembered children in the hotel corridor, are truly horrifying, but I still have some reservations. Jack Nicholson, as excellent as he is, overacts disgustingly in some scenes; if that's the director's intention, I didn't quite get it. And Shelley Duvall, as she runs around the hotel with a knife in her hand, tries to play scared, but you can see in her face that she's not very good at it. But these are just tiny blemishes on the beauty of the whole. (11.11.2003)

The only horror film in the filmography of the great Stanley Kubrick. It might sound like a paradox, but I prefer other films of his. Regardless, The Shining is extraordinarily well made. (25.08.2007)

Ich bin wohl ein komischer Kauz, aber ich habe dreimal versucht, Kings Buch zu lesen und es immer nach etwa hundert Seiten weggelegt. Ich mochte es nicht. Der Film hat mich jedoch sofort mit seiner suggestiven Atmosphäre des schleichenden Terrors in seinen Bann gezogen, was auf Jack Nicholsons meisterhafte Leistung zurückzuführen ist. Er spielt Jack Torrance wie eine Harfe, zunächst leise mit all den dunklen Untertönen, und dann zupft er plötzlich an allen Saiten. Jacks Verwandlung in ein Monster erfolgt allmählich und macht den Film im Grunde genommen "aus". Kubrick ist es auf bewundernswerte Weise gelungen, ohne Dunkelheit und beengte Räume Angst zu erzeugen. Die Angst in Shining ist luftige, helle, geräumige Angst... Und damit völlig einzigartig. Zur Authentizität des Films trägt auch bei, dass das Böse keine Quelle zu haben scheint - kommt es aus dem "Inneren" von Jack, oder ist es das Böse, das im Genius Loci verkörpert ist? Ist Jacks Wahnsinn wirklich nur ein Produkt seiner geschädigten Psyche? Der Zuschauer befindet sich in der gleichen Ungewissheit wie die Protagonisten des Films und hat Schwierigkeiten, das Kräfteverhältnis zwischen der Realität und dem Übernatürlichen zu bestimmen. Aber alles führt nur zu einem... REDRUM... ist Ihnen das auch unheimlich? (30.01.2004)

Redrum. Redrum. Redrum. The main asset of this movie is neither Nicholson, nor Kubrick’s precise directing, but the flawless atmosphere in the mountain top hotel. Kubrick’s loose adaptation of King’s novel is attractive due to it being actually only very loosely based on the motifs in one of King’s best stories and is not a mere idealess “one to one" adaptation (however much I may think that Torrance’s fall was far too sudden in comparison with the gradual descent in the book). redruM! (30.01.2007)

Stanley Kubrick met with horror for the first and last time in 1980 to elevate the genre to slightly different dimensions, creating a valuable piece and one of his more digestible works. Nicholson's devilish one-man show and the musical accompaniment composed of disharmonies and squeaky sounds heavily contributed to this, maintaining an unpleasant feeling of tension throughout. However, the result somewhat pales in comparison to King's brilliant source material, possibly due to inadequate psychological groundwork. 70% (31.03.2006)

I'm sure I'd have liked it a lot more if I didn't have to watch it in two parts (after about an hour of watching it, my roommate couldn't take it and we had to turn it off and put on HIMYM); the next day the atmosphere was gone, so I kind of thought about it, rolled my eyes, and gave it 5 stars. But maybe it wasn't really there after all, it just ended in kind of a lackluster way, and at the exact moment the black guy called, I told myself he was going to go there and get slaughtered. Yup, and that’s exactly how it turned out... I would have given it the 4 stars for the psycho music, for Jack, who at the beginning looked like he was from the Bohnice Insane Asylum, and for that bloody hallway, but as I mentioned I closed one eye (and plugged up one nostril, but you don't need to know that) and was giving it the damn 5 stars. I guess it's because I live over a cat cemetery. Nah – I opened my eyes, looked again, and it's still just 4 stars. (18.01.2011)

A classic of the horror genre that hasn't aged and is an example of the director's creative approach to the literary source material. Kubrick had an exceptional talent for creating impressive visuals and working with actors, which, in combination with the screenplay, created a disturbing work with an atmosphere that is rarely seen in the genre today. Scenes such as the wildly moving toy car on the red carpet or the chase in the garden maze are etched in my memory forever. This was one of Jack Nicholson's best roles, perfectly portraying the gradual breakdown of the main character's personality. His loss of self-confidence as the family provider is gradually replaced by increasingly aggressive dominance, culminating in a horrifying finale. The final camera shot of the framed photograph on the wall is a clever touch that will please horror fans. The scenery of the monumental hotel complex set in an isolated mountain environment also plays an irreplaceable role. Overall impression: 95%. Interestingly, the author of the book, Stephen King, was not completely satisfied with the tone of this film, despite it being one of the best adaptations of his work. It seems that he was disappointed that he did not receive his usual minor role. (04.12.2007)

Incredibly chilling. When you watch one of today’s would-be horrors, you can’t not be shocked at what’s happened. Fear doesn’t come from cheap surprises, but from the stifling atmosphere that pushes the hero over the brink of madness. Is it the filmmakers or the viewers who are to blame? The drive-bys on the tricycle and the visit to room no. 237 are terrifying in their very essence (loneliness, vulnerability) and not because a ghoul jumps out at you. Nicholson is great, a little weird right from the beginning, but still sufficiently natural. The wife in her simplicity is “normal" most of the time, but visually looks very strange, to say the least. Unlike in the book, Danny is demoted from the main role to child medium full of fear, but paradoxically it didn’t bother me much. It works perfectly in Kubrick’s hands. The blood in the elevator is super, the finale in the maze excellently executed. Maybe better than with the boiler. (10.05.2016)

So ist es recht nett. Aber ich habe nicht das Gefühl, dass Jack hier das Maximum gegeben hat. Etwas fehlt seinen Highlights aus Die Hexen oder Wolf fehlt. Andererseits können King-Verfilmungen manchmal die absolute Hölle sein. Und hier gibt es eine großartige Parodie auf Die Simpsons, der Name des Gesalbten ist eben im Wappen eingraviert. (02.04.2013)

I love it when a film takes me away for two hours and lets me wander in an unpredictable labyrinth of cinephile perfection, and in the end exhausts and decimates me emotionally and psychically. The Shining is the only film in my life that can fully do that several times. It’s no wonder that King doesn’t like this masterpiece, Kubrick is a visionary of such style that he playfully surpasses the narrative value and power of an otherwise great book, and he does it “only” with carefully built interiors and a minimalist staging of a space that is arranged in detail and expressively connected to the different perspectives of the three protagonists. What is reality and what is fantasy? Is the deranged Jack an instigator or an unfortunate victim? What do all those carefully constructed events represent and symbolise? Kubrick gives clues, ambiguously and cunningly, to constantly draw the viewer into a seemingly depersonalised world and at the same time force them to experience the simple story of the characters. The Shining is an incredibly complex product by a genius who likes to hide and wrap meanings, but also knows how to narrate with the intensity of a monsoon storm and entertain the viewer with an iconic direction of the scenes and the actors, who are exposed to the bone – Jack Nicholson delivers what’s probably his most amazing performance and he actually carries most of the film’s meaning. I strongly recommend to watch the shorter, 114 minute version, the longer one has redundant scenes that explain things for the dumber part of the audience and lack filmmaking zest. (17.11.2018)

The way Kubrick works with the story, the tension... The way he can create atmosphere – the way he works with the music, the setting, the actors – it's a joy to watch someone do something they're so damn good at. The Shining is a "horror film" (I'd be ashamed to give The Shining the slavish label of mere horror, hence the quotation marks :)) made in a timeless way that adds authenticity to an already terrifying story and, thanks to some truly memorable scenes, places it quite rightly at the top of its genre. --- Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in. --- (04.02.2010)