Can I be honest? I didn’t know where the phrase, “Here’s Johnny!” came from until I watched this movie for the first time this week. Yes. I do live under a rock. Just like Patrick.
Besides the fact that my parents always tried to shield me from any movies with sex or horror in it until I was about 17, I am also a giant baby and refuse to watch anything scary unless it’s daytime outside. This leaves my movie selections to comedies, romances, and cartoons.
So, when I got to college and people started telling me about all these crazy movies like Pulp Fiction (watched it freshman year of college) and The Shining, my eyes were really opened. And I tended to get a lot of weird looks.
There I was browsing my Netflix titles when I came across The Shining. I’ve recently gotten into true crime and the creepier movie titles like American Horror Story, so I decided to watch it like a big girl. In segments. And with the sun shining brightly outside. A round of applause please.
But when I watched it, I couldn’t turn off my critical eye. I know that it was filmed in the ‘80s and that it was probably really freaky when it came out, but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. I mean, there was only one death. And don’t even get me started on Wendy. Every time she ran, I wanted to turn off the TV.
No one runs like that!
Also why did neither Wendy or Danny get hurt? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they got away from that misogynistic jerk but give me a little more drama. The only injury that happened between the three of them was when Wendy feebly cut at Jack’s hand with her gigantic butcher knife that easily could have sliced his whole hand off.
And maybe it is because I watched it during the day, but there was not enough suspension to get me really terrified. I think I could have watched it at any point of the day without being scared. I think that maybe if there was less exposition and more of Jack chasing everyone around with an ax, it would have been more entertaining.
My favorite part? Jack Nicholson’s acting. He plays the perfect psychopath. I would have loved to see more of his hallucinating and talking to himself because that was just delicious. He just really makes you hate him.
Image credit: IFC Center
The ending had me really confused too. That photo with Jack in a 1920s party at the hotel? Does that mean he’s a ghost come back to haunt the present? What was even in the hotel? Because it didn’t seem like a couple of plain ‘ole ghosts. Leave it to Stephen King to give us a really confusing mystery. I swear, he could write a book that makes zero sense and we’d still call him a legend.