Rish Outfield's reviews
One of the scariest movies ever made.
This is a stylish, claustrophobic, maddening, dismal, and just plain Evil horror movie. Stanley Kubrick took the things he most liked from Stephen King's novel and crafted something that really worked. It takes several horror elements--scary sounds, fear of the unknown, ghosts, dark visions, twisted music, insanity, isolation, nightmares, psychic ability, axe-wielding maniacs, and Shelly Duvall--and puts them together quite nicely. Plus, Scatman Crothers! Jack Nicholson's performance is great, as usual, his struggle to keep his composure and stay in control gripping and believable. Amazingly, he manages to retain his likability almost until the end, where any other actor would've stopped being interesting. Year after year, from childhood to adulthood, this film has disturbed me. From the opening ominous music to the tidal wave of blood, from Danny saying "Redrum!" to the ghost in the bathtub, from the terrifying black-eyed twins ("Come and play with us, Danny") to the caretaker saying 'I corrected her, sir," this movie has more memorable moments than a high school yearbook, and it's just as unpleasant. Just like the book, from the very beginning, we know everything isn't going to have a nice and tidy ending. And that, of course, only makes it worse. Many have called this a classic, and yes, boys and girls, this is a classic. A dark classic.
I'd Recommend It To: The not-faint of heart.

The tyranist's thoughts
I saw this movie for the first time when I was very young. My best friend and I watched it on HBO late one night and when I had to walk home by myself (a distance of about two hundred yards) I ran. This movie is the scariest movie I ever saw. For that reason I have avoided seeing it again for almost twenty years. Partially because you can't shake those childhood chills and partially because I know that I can never see it as the kid I was again. Those two girls still haunt me a little.
When I pulled this off the shelf, Rish told me to put it back. He didn't want to see it again. I was finally ready though and I insisted. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as scary this time around but it was much more tragic. I felt for Jack and the madness that was taking him. I still wanted Wendy and Danny to get away clean, but Jack deserved my sympathy too. There were still those creepy girls, the foul woman in the bath, and the flood of blood coming from the elevator. The music is creepy beyond almost any other horror score. The setting is magnificent but haunting at the same time. Kubrick's touch actually got a really good performance out of Shelley Duvall. This movie has all of the same magic it held when I was a kid. The only difference is that I am jaded. The amazing thing is that in spite of my older eyes and heart, this movie still got my blood pumping and still scared me after all of these years.