Movie Review: The Shining (1980) - Happy Halloween!

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Hi My Lot, I know I have been writing a lot about Halloween lately, however seeing as this is Halloween day I thought it would be funny to write about something else, so I thought in keeping with the theme I would tell you about one of my favorite scary movies, "The Shining". Be warned there may be spoilers. I already wrote this once - and then, seemingly as a Halloween Prank my browser window froze up. This movie is based off of a novel by Stephen King. The movie opens on the Torrence family. Jack, Wendy and young son Danny. We can tell right away that there is tension. Wendy is a timid, scared of her own shadow housewife. Danny is smart but quiet and obsessed with his invisible friend, "Tony". And Jack, well Jack is volatile, brusque, and we get the opinion that he can fly off the handle fairly easily. We learn that Jack, in an alcoholic fit - injured Danny's arm. This instance lead Jack to stop drinking. Jack is wanting to write the great American Novel, and has hence taken the job of winter maintenance man at the grand Overlook Hotel. Beautiful place, but becomes entirely inaccessible due to snow in winters. This is an ideal set up for Jack, because basically all he has to do are a few small tasks, make sure the place doesn't burn down, leaving him the rest of his time, to write his novel. The family isn't too keen on this, but are too scared of Jack to go against his desires. As Dick Haloran , the Overlook's chef , is giving the family a tour of the grounds, before he too, packs up and leaves for the winter, we discover not only that Danny can communicate telepathically with certain people, like Dick, but also that "Tony" the invisible friend shows Danny things, giving Danny some psychic ability. Tony shows Danny that the Overlook has had a very dark past indeed and that this is beginning to rub off on Jack Torrence who is becoming increasingly dark and unpredictable. With everyone else gone and winter setting in this makes the perfect suspenseful movie. I won't ruin the ending. Some trivia: Apparently King didn't like Shelly Duvall's portrayal of the Wendy character. King wrote Wendy to be a strong woman, where as Duvall expertly played her as mousy and timid. There is a sequel in novel form called "Dr. Sleep" which I think is a better book and should be made into a movie. Have you seen "The Shining"? What are your favorite scary movies? Happy Halloween! Here is a fan made trailer :