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| Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny
Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Philip Stone |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Grady
(Philip Stone): My girls, sir, they didn't care for the Overlook
at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches and tried to
burn it down. But I... corrected them, sir. And when my wife tried to
prevent me from doing my duty, I corrected her.
The
off-season caretaker of a remote ski resort hotel goes crazy and attacks
his wife and child.
 For
a movie from one of the world's most renowned directors that has entered
the public consciousness so vividly with its eye-catching imagery and
spooky set-pieces, The Shining remains a surprisingly unsuspenseful
and often plain boring film. This is a real shame, especially given
the huge amount of talent involved, but this picture remains one that
consists of many skilfully executed moments that somehow fail to gel
together into a credible whole. It contains quite a few memorably creepy
images, and its exquisite staging, acute editing and revolutionary use
of the Steadicam in the magnificent tracking shots down the hotel corridors.
The movie also benefits from an effectively eerie score, in which Kubrick
once again employs the otherworldly sounds of composer György Ligeti
(also used so effectively in 2001: A Space Odyssey).
But Jack Nicholson's performance, which has since become the reference
point for over-the-top camp histrionics. His descent into madness occurs
before any kind of character has been established, leaving him to growl,
scowl and prowl his way through the rest of the movie, providing a few
laughs but hardly any real scares. Duvall meanwhile is given nothing
to do but react to Jack's one-man act. Ultimately, the staging and eerie
score keep the movie alive, and several sequences are handled with such
exquisite skill that they would suggest a much better (and scarier)
movie. But for a horror film with this kind of reputation, The Shining
is dead in the water. |
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The
first DVD release of The Shining was available separately or
as part of the first Region 1 release of the Stanley Kubrick Collection
box set, and featured a poor transfer drawn from damaged source elements
and the original mono sound mix.
A remastered edition was released earlier this year for Region 1, again
both separately and as part of the newly remastered Stanely Kubrick
Collection box set, and features a cleaned-up transfer and a new Dolby
Digital 5.1 sound mix.
The Region 2 release of The Shining features the remastered version
of the international cut of the film, which runs approximately 20 minutes
shorter than the American cut. It is available both separately and as
part of the newly released Stanley Kubrick Collection box set. The Region
2 release served as basis for this review.
The
fullscreen image is framed at an aspect ratio of approx. 1.33:1. Kubrick's
explicit choice to use the fullframe camera negative for the DVD presentation
rather than the theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in which the top and
bottom of the frame are matted out is a matter of some controversy.
I personally found the framing much more satisfactory when dropping
off the top and bottom by 'zooming in' on my widescreen TV set, and
would definitely have preferred at least the option of an anamorphic
widescreen version of this theatrical presentation. This being said,
the film looks as good as it ever has: the source print is free of the
annoying scratches and blemishes that marred the earlier R1 DVD release,
and colors are bright, with good, deep black levels and wonderful detail
in all the backgrounds.
The new Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix does a great job enhancing the film's
atmosphere, separating the eerie score from the dialogues and drawing
them out towards the sides and back of the soundstage. Little use is
actually made of the discreet rear channels, making this sound more
like a 4.1 presentation, but it's a fantastic improvement on the original
that stays true to the source while expanding the movie's sonic experience.
Vivian
Kubrick (one of the director's daughters) shot and directed a half-hour
documentary 'Making The Shining' while the movie was in production,
and the unique access she was granted to the set and the principals'
hotel rooms make this a fascinating backstage look at this weird movie.
Like the movie, the documentary has been restored for this new release,
and boasts spruced-up visuals and a Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix for
the clips from the film. Vivian Kubrick provides an audio commentary
track for this documentary, which is a little odd, as it's like
a 'making-of' of the 'making-of' documentary. It still provides a generous
amount of inside information on the production, though it would have
been preferable to have Ms. Kubrick provide a commentary track for the
whole film.
The theatrical trailer is also on board. The
static menu screens, presented in anamorphic widescreen, are accompanied
by a music cue from the score, and are simple to navigate.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Shining.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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