The Shining [Blu-ray] | Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall | Why Nicholson is the face of horror

The Shining [Blu-ray] | Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall | redrum.

DVDs:

The Shining [Blu-ray]

	The Shining [Blu-ray] Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall Warner Home Video, 2007 average customer review:based on 784 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

?Heeeeere?s Johnny!? In a macabre masterpiece adapted from Stephen King?s novel, Jack Nicholson falls prey to forces haunting a snowbound mountain resort with a macabre history.

Why Nicholson is the face of horror

It might be hard to tell if he's really acting or just being himself. Jack Torrance. . .aka Jack Nicholson, the winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel, descends into madness as he succumbs to the psychic presences in the hotel - and it's a delightful transformation! Stephen King's novel is closely followed, despite a few glaring omissions that might even have pushed Jack's character too far off the deep end to be tolerable. An eerie and inspiring film for any dark night!

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The Shining starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall is a solid horror film from start to finish. Stanley Kubrick directed this film and the movie is based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Parts of this film who definitely freak you out, I highly recommend purchashing this '80s classic, enjoy!

Great movie!

I just love the Shining! The book is better than the movie, but the madness is still portrayed in this epic horror film.

DVD extras

Since I suspect that most people reading this have already seen "The Shining" and already have an opinion, I'm not going to comment on the plot. Instead I'm going to review the extra features.

"Crafting the Shining" - This was the first DVD extra that I watched, and I enjoyed it a lot. I thought it was a concise, well done look behind-the-scenes with a lot of interesting trivia and interviews.

"Visions of Stanley Kubrick" - This is a short homage to Kubrick. It looks at all of his films to showcase the sort of artist he was.

"Making of the Shining" - This is the exact same documentary as on the "Collection" VHS tape. However, a nice addition is the option of listening to a new commentary by Vivian Kubrick. I enjoyed hearing her stories. She had the unique perspective of being a 17 year old bystander on the set. I wish they had asked her to take part in the commentary for the full movie on disc 1.

"Wendy Carlos" - This is an interesting look at the musical sequences that didn't make it into the final cut of The Shining and Clockwork Orange.

Disc 1 special features - The only extra feature on disc 1 is the commentary by the steadycam operator and a Kubrick biographer. This commentary is why I gave the dvd only 4 stars instead of 5. The biggest disappointment was that they repeat a lot of what was already said in the extra features on Disc 2. The two commentators were recorded separately and then spliced together. The steadycam operator was humorous to listen to and he also keeps you interested because of his unique perspective as a crew member on set almost every day during filming. The biographer's commentary, on the other hand, was disappointing. A few of his comments were insightful, but everyone watching with me felt he sounded pompous. A lot of his comments sound like an art critic fawning over Kubrick while pointing out the obvious. Suffice to say, I wish they had paired the steadycam operator up with someone different for the commentary. It's a shame they couldn't get Nicholson or one of the other actors to provide commentary. I would have enjoyed it more listening to a second person who had actually been there during filming.

Overall, I felt it was worth paying the extra money for this 2 disc dvd as an upgrade from my old VHS copy. The picture quality looks good. I'm happy with my choice. But anyone who isn't a huge fan will probably be completely satisfied with the cheaper 2001 "Kubrick Collection" dvd instead. You are basically paying the big price difference for this special edition only to get 3 short featurettes, Vivian's 30 minute commentary, and a very mediocre full-length commentary. According to Amazon's editorial, the old "Collection" version was supposedly the aspect ratio that Kubrick approved of, anyways.

A five star movie, but only a four star "special" edition.

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