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My final trick this Halloween 😈😈😈 Demon Ames level complete!

The Shining turned out to be the perfect double feature alongside The VVitch—or a Friday night horror treat! It did not disappoint!

While I wasn’t quite scared to bits like some of my friends who watched it as kids or teens, I was totally captivated by every detail. Now I want to watch all the documentaries and know all the conspiracy theories I’ve only heard whispers about.

Kubrick is a mad genius! his sets are mind-blowing, and his color choices feel loaded with hidden meanings. Every shot is so deliberate. I was obsessed with the maze and all the symbolism—it’s like every part of this movie has something deeper to uncover. Like the hotel!Every rewatch must get so much richer?

Is this the movie where Jack Nicholson became his “Jack Nicholson Persona” No wonder he landed the Joker role after this—it all makes sense now. Let’s talk about Shelly Duvall? An Absolute legend. Her performance is everything, and she made Wendy’s terror feel so real. What a dream role for an actress, and she nailed every second of it! And of course lil Danny—so cute and creepy. The pre req for any kid in a horror movie.

I appreciated this film, but could see how some things could annoy viewers. Maybe the pacing? Maybe how fast he goes into his madness? How much a jerk Jack is and we only get a few hints to backstory.

I left a lot of rambles in the outro. I was on cloud 237 after watching this one and can’t wait to chat with you all as usual!

I LOVE YOUR GUTS, YA’LL!

Til next Spooktober 💀👻🎃

xx

Ames

Note- I had a weird glitch in my OBS, but should flow ok. I didn’t use a full timer because my timers still have been drifting. I unblurred to make sure we are still synced!

Files

The Shining (1980) watch along

Comments

pickupthepieces

Well well well, Kubrick and Ames meet again. Always an interesting time. Can't wait to put this one on. But right now on holiday in the States, so it'll have to wait a little bit.

Goony71

Nice surprise! There’s a sequel of sorts from a few years ago with Ewan McGregor, Doctor Sleep. Maybe for next spooktober?

RFK Fan

I've always been a bit ambivalent about THE SHINING. It's a literary masterpiece of horror and you cant say it isn't very well made. I just never found it very scary. The joy in watching this for me? The production design. It's still amazes me. And who ever gets tired of watching Jack Nicolson tear up his scenes?

Clay F

The Shining has an artistic sense to me with the music/sound, imagery, anticipation, Nicholson acting, etc.

JM63

Haha, next-level troll/reverse-troll !! Great double feature to end Spooktober! You're like the neighborhood house that's giving big "name-brand" candy instead of generic stuff :)

Noell G

YOURE JOKINGGG OMF

Shawn Goforth

***Spoilers if you haven't see yet*** There are a couple of plot points that I often hear people confused by that generally are dismissed as continuity errors. They bothered me for a long time, because I had only read the book and never any Kubrick interviews, but I finally got answers. In the initial interview, Mr. Ullman says the name of the previous caretaker is Charles Grady, but the server Jack meets at the flapper party says his name is Delbert Grady, and Jack says he was the caretaker and murdered his wife and daughter. Kubrick explains these are meant to be different people, not the same guy lost in time. Charles, who is discussed at the beginning as killing his 11 and 9 year old daughters (they are NOT meant to be twins), may be the reincarnation of the earlier caretaker from 1921. That helps explain the daughter vs. daughters line. I doubted Nicholson could have flubbed that one, considering how many takes Kubrick would put people through.

James Hadden

I’m looking forward to watching this again. I saw it for the first time a couple of years ago on another channel and loved the visuals, such a stunning movie. It’s actually the first movie that made me want to read the book afterwards - I was not disappointed (my first Stephen King novel). For me, we get a Jack who’s easier to empathise with in the book and a better view into his descent into madness. If I’m not mistaken, this was a nightmare role for Shelley rather than a dream unfortunately.

Hold Down A

Ya interesting to talk to my coworker after I saw this she’s seen the movie as a kid and it terrified her and she read the book

James Rogers

What a bonus selection! A Stanley Kubrick ghost story for Halloween definitely goes in the treat column. Not going to rehash the obvious qualities other than to say it is just a beautiful film. A lot is made of the paces Kubrick put Duvall through to get her performance but she went on the record to defend his methods. Seeing her reminds me of what a perfect casting choice she was as Olive Oyl in Robert Altman's Popeye. Lastly, the exteriors of the Overlook Hotel were filmed at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon; a mountain I am lucky enough to see on a clear day. Great Spooktober gift. Thanks Ames.

Catchermag

It’s interesting that you’ve watched 3 Stephen King movies this Spooktober. Each of the Directors putting their spin on the movies, bringing their own styles, and not really concerned how closely they mimic the books. Rob Reiner, with Misery, followed the book the closest but he had already faithfully done Stand By Me, which is Stephen Kings The Body. De Palma and Kubrick clearly didn’t care, and they were very stylistic in their approaches. Almost so much that Carrie and The Shining movies were less Stephen King book adaptations and more De Palma and Kubrick movies…..if that makes ANY sense. Kings books have always done better as movies with big directors attached. Aside from the above, Christine was directed by John Carpenter, Frank Darabont directed The Mist and the INCREDIBLE and never aging Shawshank Redemption (have you seen it?), and George Romero directed the Stephen King original screenplay Creepshow. These are seminal Directors directing tent pole horror and thrillers. I hope your Stephen King journey continues soon.

Hold Down A

Very excited to have seen 3 this month, all so different stylistically some similar themes. Others u listed u am excited for - SR is one of my fave movies! Been a while I didn’t actually know it was SK 🤫

Eric Lucas

OMG! I'm going to skip The Witch for now and am going to watch The Shining instead!!! Totally one of my favorite shot scenes in any movie of all time is the scene where she finds Jack's novel is just a bunch of gibberish and he starts back her up the stairs scaring her more and more. The realism in that scene is beyond anything else I've seen in my life. This movie is definitely in my top 5 movies of all time. Thanks for the amazing watch along on this spooooky halloween night. :D

Hold Down A

So happy to! I LOVED the turning of the pages when she found the book. I was obsessed with the shots in this! Enjoy!

Carl Lyngholm

I believe you kind of mentioned it in the intro, but I would check out "Room 237" if you're interested in a more in depth look at the myriad of fan theories regarding what this film is "really about". Everything from a commentary on the problematic history regarding the treatment of Native Americans to how "The Shining" is a veiled confession by Stanley Kubrick for tricking the American people by allowing himself to be used by the government to fake the first Apollo Moon Landing. It's mostly pretty far fetched in my opinion, not sure I buy any of the theories presented, but it's an interesting watch at the very least. There's also a bajillion Youtube videos with their own analysis.

Hold Down A

Ya my coworker just told me about the moon landing .. I think that might be far fetched as there are photos of where it landed, and they put mirrors on the moon and we use them for tests, also hard to shoot and create a “vaccum” on the moon here on earth. Myth busters I think did something like that lol into physics and space but still wanna watch to see what people say!!!!!

Clay F

Enjoyed your reaction. I agree there is artistry in the movie. I've watched the movie a few times in the last 18 months. The Shining is not necessarily well-explained in details. "Kubrick was keen on using the audience's own imagination against them and, by introducing mystery and the suggestion of horror, the audience can fill in the blanks with their own fears."

Mister Lou

Yes! Great Reaction! Please react to the Room 237 Doc. and give Ready Player One a revisit. I'm sure we're ALL down for that! Also Docter Sleep Director's Cut!

Calum Grace

Great reaction!. Shelley Duvall is incredible in this. Pre-empting the urban legends here, per Shelley Duvall herself this was actually an incredible experience to film, although obviously very challenging and really intense at times - there's often talk about how Kubrick basically tortured her emotionally during filming, but according to her that just wasn't the case.

Calum Grace

Seconding the recommendation of the Doctor Sleep Director's Cut, it rules end to end!

Todd Rush

"How did they mic this?!?" is the best thing ever. THAT is why Ames is so dope.

Matt Dever

I apologize, in advance, for the brash tone, but I'm confused. I cannot hear the movie and the picture is blurry. Did I miss something before signing up for a $10/month subscription? I am subscribed to other Patreon accounts that have movie reactions where I can hear and see a clear image of the movie or TV series. I saw some other price tags on the posts here and not sure what those entail. Please let me know if all the posted video reactions, here, are going to be in the same Helen Keller format.

Brian

Super late to this discussion, no idea if anyone will ever read my comments nearly 2 years late, etc… Clearly spoilers warning, if you’re reading comments & never seen this, of course you’ll see spoilers so stop reading! I didn’t see mention above about this, but Stephen King, who wrote the book for this material, evidently HAAATED Kubrick’s adaptation of adaptation of his story. He’s notoriously dismissed this movie as a bad adaptation of his book. Most notably, how Kubrick & Nicholson portrayed the character of Jack as batshit crazy from the very start, as opposed to a gradual descent into madness from King’s source material. King has also been very outspoken about Shelly Duvall’s portrayal of Wendy, stating that Duvall portrayed Wendy as a much ‘weaker’ character than what he imagined in his book. And, I can see some of King’s points here. It’s been many years since I read the book The Shining. You think the movie is scary?? That fucking book scared the living shit out of me when I 1st read it. However, if I’m being 100% honest? I like the ending that Kubrick wrote for the movie better than the ending King wrote for the book. I won’t spoil it here by describing the differences, in case you’ve never read King’s novel, but the movie’s ending I found to be MUCH better than King’s ending to his novel. And, I agree with King that Nicholson’s portrayal of Jack went from zero to psycho seemingly overnight, compared to what King wrote in the book. From vague memory, King wanted his character of Jack to be more of a lost soul, who had a good heart, unless he was drinking. King at the time was evidently a struggling alcoholic as well, and felt that to be an important plot point to the descent of the character of Jack into madness, whereas Kubrick & Nicholson, pretty much at the interview scene to start the movie, portrayed Jack as borderline crazy from the getgo, taking away from the horror of going from a father that genuinely loved his son, to a father trying to murder his son, in King’s opinion. It’s such an iconic role for Jack Nicholson. Stephen King may not have liked the portrayal, but holy crap is Nicholson scary af in this portrayal. I can’t even imagine an actor trying to get into the headspace to portray such a horrifying character… Kubrick is probably my favorite director of all time, and The Shining is a perfect example why! Wonderful work, Ames (if you ever see this)… ❤️