My Current Top 25 Favorite Horror/Suspense Movies starting with #25

  • XXV. The Omen (1976) (Directed by Richard Donner)
  • XXIV. Suspiria (Dario Argento)
  • XXIII. Se7en (David Fincher)
  • XXII. Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski)
  • XXI. Scream (Wes Craven)
  • XX. Hellraiser (Clive Barker)
  • XIX. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (Wes Craven)
  • XVIII. The Descent (Neil Marshall)
  • XVII. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1973) (Tobe Hooper)
  • XVI. Night of the Living Dead (1968) (George A. Romero)
  • XV. The Thing (1982) (John Carpenter)
  • XIV. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock)
  • XIII. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
  • XII. Misery (Rob Reiner)
  • XI. The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi)
  • X. Dead Alive (Peter Jackson)
  • IX A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven)
  • VIII. Halloween (1978) (John Carpenter)
  • VII. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock)
  • VI. Dawn of the Dead (1978) (George A. Romero)
  • V. Alien/Aliens (Tie) (Ridley Scott/James Cameron)
  • IV. Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper)
  • III. The Exorcist (William Friedkin)
  • II. Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)
  • I. Jaws (Steven Spielberg)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Heeeeeeeere's Johnny! A closer look at "The Shining"

Jack Nicholson gives an extremely entertaining performance as the increasingly psychotic character Jack Torrence in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece "The Shining." The movie is based on Stephen King's horror classic but Kubrick makes it his own. He creates an atmosphere of dread throughout the film. There are scares and shocks aplenty to be found here. Kubrick makes the setting of "The Overlook Hotel" scary. The scene where young Danny rides his big wheel around the halls of the hotel, and then comes face to face with the two ghosts of the girls who were brutally murdered by their father, is genuinely frightening. As good as Kubrick's direction is, the movie belongs to Nicholson, who steals every scene he is in as the deranged caretaker. The movie has some substantially violent scenes as well as some nudity but none of it is over the top. This is an excellent horror movie which features one of Nicholson's best performances and one of Kubrick's best directing jobs. What are your thoughts on "The Shining?"

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