It’s tough to believe that Stanley Kubrick received a Worst Director Razzie nomination for “The Shining.” While “The Shining” may not be given the classic status of some of his other films like “Dr. Strangelove” and “2001″, it’s actually the least polarizing of this highly-praised and atypical filmmakers work.
This atmospheric thriller is sure to creep you out with its pacing, eery editing and cinematography (those tracking shots are highly effective), and Jack Nicholson’s powerful performance as Jack Torrance. Horror films often tend to divide audiences into genre fans who follow the gore and those who laugh in the face of so-called scares, insisting their own resiliency to cheap thrills and lamebrain plotting.
Fortunately, “The Shining” doesn’t make you take sides, because its chills come from plotting and character study as much as they do from odd sights that will make you jump. It may stray from Stephen King’s book and not all of it may make sense, but “The Shining” has so much going for it that you won’t mind. It’s a gripping and satisfying film experience, and in my opinion, one of the best films of the ’80s.
This Warner DVD re-release is definitely the version to get. The full frame presentation comes at the wishes of Kubrick and the video and audio offer significant improvement over the drab initial release. (Unfortunately, the original Mono audio track has been dropped altogether in favor of an effective 5.1 remix. They could have included both with no problem.)
In the way of extras, there is an engaging half-hour on-set documentary, filmed by Kubrick’s daughter Vivian. It provides a candid experience of the film’s creation, and interviews with some of the actors. In addition, this DVD re-release includes an audio commentary on the documentary (sort of a “making-of the making-of”) by Vivian Kubrick. There’s also the spooky trailer, which shows how a movie preview can perfectly pique one’s interest in a film, without spoiling (or even saying) much.
Stephen Kings The Mist starts off pretty basic with a glimpse into David Drayton’s (Thomas Jane) home art studio. Now, only the most observant horror fans will note that one of the pictures we are shown, hanging on his wall, is an exact picture of the dvd and vhs cover from the classic movie “The Thing”, starring Kurt Russell, one of my all time favorite horror films. So, this threw me, at first. I thought he was some kind of person involved in horror films, and was thrown off the mark in the wrong direction.
Then this storm rolls in, a tree plows through Drayton’s studio window, and as the family comes outside the next day to survey the damage, they see an eerie mist, hanging back along the lake they live on.
David Drayton and his son go to town to buy clean-up supplies. Once there, the mist that they saw rolling across the lake has made it into town and engulfs the store. The terror level is upped when a man runs into the store with blood on his face, screaming that there is something out there. Indeed, there is, and soon those trapped in the store see what it is. To make matters worse, a religious fanatic by the name of Mrs. Carmody (Harden) is stirring up some of the customers with her talk of the end of the world. David finds himself looked to for guidance, and when things seem to be as bad as they can be, things get worse.
It’s then that the movie takes on a totally different tone, of who believes me and who doesn’t, as people take sides. We see just how insane and crazy people act when forced into situations of entrapment, powerlessness, and plain old fashioned being scared.
The actors on this film did a wonderful job, in particular the crazy Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden). This is a very verbal film for perhaps 90 minutes straight.
And when a few people do finally manage to escape, what they see and encounter beyond is just thrilling, gory, weird, and very cold feeling, in particular the scene in which they are driving along some road and see a very, very tall creature in the mist. It just makes you realize how far-encompassing this overall thing really is.
Even though the ending is very, very depressing, I said to myself, you know, for once a movie ended the way it really should have, and keeps you wondering “why?” Definitely a great, true horror film, and a rare one with great actors and performances.
This is one of the Best classic Movies Stephen King has ever made!
The whole story of Stephen Kings It involves a group of kids, all “losers”, drawn together by a supernatural force to confront an ancient evil that takes the form of a malignant clown.
Tim Curry was, I think, born to play Pennywise the Clown. A sadistic, waddling freak with his doughy, grinning white face, red wet lips stretched as wide as his ears. In his clown form, he is able to charm the younger kinds, but he becomes the fears of the older ones, taking them down into his sewer dungeon to feed on them. The kids that finally beat the monster, Big Bill and Haystack and Bev and the rest of the Loser’s Club, manage to force It back into It’s lair, not dead, but nearly mortally wounded….
Driven by a feeding cycle, It rises again decades later, and the Loser’s Club, now forgotten in adulthood, is drawn back together to face the monster one final time.
This was originally made-for-television, so the movie is only capable of so much, but I think that fact alone gives the movie special merit.
The casting was pretty much dead-on (especially in the case of Pennywise) and the special effects were surprisingly good. Probably the fact that the film makers were incapable of going the hack-and-slash rated-R route helped to improve the suspense and the atmosphere.
The book was great and the movie was great. I would recommend them both.
I think that the humble perfection of a classic good versus evil story can sometimes be overlooked. The purity of a tale in which you can easily lose yourself. And that’s just what It is.
Stephen King’s Desperation, a made-for-television movie, is a faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s book, by the same name.
A group of diverse travelers across the Nevada desert, all end up being arrested by an enormous, seemingly-friendly sheriff named Collie Entragian. Some of the arrests have some validity, while others are outright frame-ups, including planting evidence.
As the prisoners congregate in the local jail, they begin to work together to figure out what the heck is going on.
As the story unfolds, we find out that the local pit-mining company unearthed a long-buried mine-shaft, and from the mine escaped an evil god or demon or spirit named “Tak”.
Tak inhabits or possesses people or animals and, through the possessed ones, Tak wreaks havoc, seemingly just to exact revenge for having been buried, or just because this spirit is mean-spirited.
Tak can control many animals, getting them to guide him and help him in his plan to cause as much damage and pain as possible. At the start of the movie, Tak has Deputy Sheriff Collie Entragian, causing Entragian to grow quite a bit and gradually be worn out.
The detainees include John Edward Marinville, once-famous author who is trying to re-capture his prime by traveling across the country on a big motorcycle, getting in touch with the “common folk”; Steve Ames, Marinville’s assistant on the cross-country trip; Cynthia Smith, a free-spirited hitchhiker picked by Ames; Peter and Mary Jackson, a young couple driving Peter’s sister’s car across country to get the car to Peter’s sister’s new home; and the Carver family, Ralph, Ellie, David, and Pie.
Some of these people will survive, and some will not. Some will be possessed by Tak, some will perish trying to oppose Tak, and some will end up mounting a very effective defense against the evil that Tak brings. One will try to turn away, trying to wash his hands of the whole mess.
The movie flows well, the musical score fits the picture and never overwhelms it, and the setting is perfect, with the horror of Desperation, Nevada being portrayed perfectly, as a ghost-town filled with the newly-dead.
The camera angles give everything a very personal feel to it, while capturing the wide-open nature of the desert. The special effects are generally good, especially with the portrayal of the animals controlled by Tak. The special effects do slip a bit, though, with the portrayal of Pirin Nor, the Well of the Worlds, where Tak really lives. The painted, glowing rocks look very fabricated, instead of supernatural and steeped in evil and hatred.
The acting is what makes the movie. Steven Weber is perfect as Steve Ames, a basically good guy who has not achieved much in life, but is fairly comfortable with who he is. Matt Frewer is Ralph Carver, the father of the Carver family, and he is a good guy, if not a particularly courageous guy. Sylva Kelegian is Ellie Carver, the Carver mother, and she is caring but also a tough lady, who is not to be taken lightly. Sammi Hanratty is young Pie Carver, the little girl who plays a big role throughout the movie. Charles Durning is Tom Billingsley, the town veterinarian and good old boy, who drinks a bit too much.
That leaves the three big stars of the film. Tom Skerritt is great as the jaded, arrogant, know-it-all, don’t-give-a-damn John Edward Marinville, who has seen too much, done too much, failed too much, and wants to hide every weakness.
Ron Perlman seems to be having a great time as the hulking, possessed, nice-guy-gone-crazy Collie Entragian. He is outrageous in his behavior, and makes you believe that Tak might just win, and might have a lot of fun destroying everything and everyone in his way.
And then there’s the best performance of the movie: Shane Haboucha as David Carver. David is a twelve- or thirteen-year-old normal boy, who has recently found God, after his best friend was almost killed in a car accident, and should not have survived, but David prayed and promised to do God’s will, if God would save his friend. Well, David’s friend lived, and now God is ready to collect on that promise.
Shane Haboucha portrays David as intelligent, a bit defiant, wanting to be respectful, wanting to prove himself as an individual, occasionally sarcastic, and very much a realistic pre-teen or early teenager, who just happens to have found God, not in a memorize-the-words way, but in a I-am-here-to-do-His-will way. Shane Haboucha nails this portrayal perfectly, and I look forward to his work in the future.
Conclusion: As with many works of Stephen King, this is a classic Good-versus-Evil showdown, with the religious and the supernatural invading the real lives of some very realistic characters. We saw this in The Stand and in The Green Mile, and we see it done beautifully here. We get to know these characters, and we get to like or dislike them, and we get to cheer them on toward some form of triumph.
Over all, this movie, like only a few others, was true to the original novel.
It’s tough to believe that Stanley Kubrick received a Worst Director Razzie nomination for “The Shining.” While “The Shining” may not be given the classic status of some of his other films like “Dr. Strangelove” and “2001″, it’s actually the least polarizing of this highly-praised and atypical filmmakers work.
