The Shining (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Stanley Kubrick
List Price:
Our Price: $9.86
You Save: $11.07 (53%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.15 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Danny Lloyd, Jack Nicholson, Scatman Crothers, Shelley DuvallDirector: Stanley Kubrick
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 142 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-10-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 72210
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- AC-3; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Special Edition; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
Movie Reviews of The Shining (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: "Get him out of here? You mean, just leave the hotel??" --Jack Torrance
Summary: 5 Stars
All things considered, at least from a horror movie connoisseur's perspective (like myself), Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece called "The Shining" is probably the scariest movie of all-time. An adaptation of Stephen King's novel also called "The Shining", Kubrick tweaks the story in all the right ways to make his movie version even more effective and terrifying than the actual novel itself. The result is a perfect piece of horror cinema in every way imaginable. Kubrick's choice of actors in this movie is absolutely perfect as Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd and Shelley Duval all turn in brilliant performances that really bring the terror home to the audience. When viewing "The Shining", the viewer gets lost in a world of utter terror on several different yet brilliantly intewoven levels of : isolation, madness, the human psyche specifically its connection to the metaphysical and the world of the supernatural evil itself.
The plot of "The Shining" is simple and yet highly effective in producing horror. The story begins with Jack Torrance on his way to the Overlook Hotel, an isolated location high in the mountains of Colorado. Torrance, a writer, is on his way to interview for his job as the winter caretaker of the magnificently beautiful Overlook Hotel. Indeed, Torrance impresses his employers and gets the job, but the ominous and absolutely horrifying score associated with this movie produces a dark and morbid theme early in this movie...the audience knows something is not right and that something horrible is about to happen. The interview itself introduces the audience to "quite a story" about the former caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, but Jack and his family seem like a normal family except for Danny's disturbing blackout episode early in the movie which acts a precursor and dark forecast for things to come.
Jack and his family move to the hotel and Jack begins writing again. All seems well at first...the only thing that resembles anything that could give rise to fear is this horrible sense of isolation that is so inherently associated with the hotel itself...the winters are "fantastically cruel" and travel by automobile is impossible during the winter as well as communication by telephone. Except for a snowcat mobile and a CB radio, the family is entirely cut off from any kind of civilization and the only world for Jack and his family is themselves and this huge and yet darkly beautiful hotel they reside in...or maybe not? Gradually, Jack begins a descent into madness as he becomes overwhelmed with a "cabin fever" and something much, much more powerful and evil takes a toll on Jack's psyche.
Nicholson's performance of a man who is gradually going mad as each day goes by is so powerful that he should have won an oscar for his role in this film..."The Shining" is a model horror movie that shows the manifestations of a madman so that the audience actually sees it happening before Wendy (Jack's wife) does and this is terrifying in and of itself. The scene where Wendy begins reading Jack's work is one of the most horrifying scenes in all of horror movie history...she realizes that she and her son have been living with a madman for quite some time and have been completely unaware of his degenerative state of mind. Wendy and their little boy Danny are confronted with a horror that is so awful and terrifying that it is simply unspeakable and unimaginable, but Kubrick brings this horror crashing down to reality for the audience and forces the viewer to empathize in Wendy's shoes.
It is obvious to the audience that Danny is already a troubled child with a dubious gift that only adds to the eerie atmosphere that Kubrick instills into this glorious piece of horror cinema and this is yet another brilliant and yet terrifying element to this great movie. Danny's troubles involve this amazing psychic ability called by Mr. Halloran (the head chef at the Overlook) "the shining"...however, "the shining" is not just being able to connect with other gifted individuals and being able to see the future, but also being in touch with the past or particular people or places associated with the past and often a dark and disturbing past...such is the case with the Overlook Hotel and Danny is tormented by disturbing images and visions throughout the movie. Danny sees the awful atrocities that occurred over the years at the Overlook Hotel and in a great scene symbolic of not only the past but the very nature of the darkness and sinister element which dominates the Overlook Hotel as Danny sees a gushing flow of blood in the hotel itself which in my humble opinion represents all of the blood spilled at the Overlook Hotel "over the years" .
In another great scene, Dick Halloran explains to Danny that sometimes things that happen can leave a trace of itself behind, not things anyone can see, but things that people who "shine" can see and in the case of the Overlook Hotel, these things are so horrifying that go beyond mere fear of death, but fear of pure evil and a nightmare from which one cannot wake. Indeed, Danny is confronted by ghosts of the past who show him the horrible past of the Overlook and this burden drives Danny into such a state of shock that he creates an alternate personality which is in touch with "the shining" to deal with his fear.
"The Shining" is a brilliantly layered horror movie that works in so many different ways to create the ultimate horror viewing experience. True, the supernatural and evil elements present in this movie are horrifying enough and are brilliantly captured and presented by Kubrick and his cast to really bring home actual fear and terror to any sophisticated horror movie audience. Yet, "The Shining" would still be scary even if there was no supernatural evil evident in the film...the idea of a woman and her child being isolated and snowbound in a huge hotel with a husband who is obviously losing his mind to go with his already violent temper is enough to make anyone experience the fear that Wendy and her son experience in this film. Just imagine what it would be like to be the mother of a small child suffering from emotional trauma and essentially locked into a hotel possessed by the most sinister force and a husband who completely loses his insanity and becomes a psychotic killer by movie's end...amazing horror.
The score associated with "The Shining" is one of the greatest horror movie soundtracks or all-time, second only to John Carpenter's "Halloween". This darkly and absolutely harrowing score presents theme and mood brilliantly from scene to scene and never lets up on the audience, but actually gets more and more disturbing as the movie progresses. The atmosphere presented by Kubrick in "The Shining" is so effective that I would still be scared to watch this film in a strange two story house...the movie is that powerful and that moving for the audience that it actually grips one's heart and mind and never lets go, even after the movie is over, the residual effects of this movie will stay with you for years. Even the landscape, sound effects (a la big wheel over the carpet and hard floors) and the hotel itself create such a dark and morbid image that human fear is the only possible emotion a reasonable person can feel, but while this fear is a treat to lovers of pure horror movies, it can become quite uncomfortable when it is time to turn the lights off and go to sleep.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have reviewed many horror movies on Amazon.com and while not necessarily the greatest horror movie of all-time, Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" while certainly one of the greatest, is without a doubt the scariest movie of all-time in my humble opinion. I cannot recommend this movie highly enough to the serious horror movie fan...FIVE STARS does not begin to do this movie justice, but suffice it to say, this is one of the top five greatest horror movies ever made. Anyone who fails to appreciate the merits of this horror movie simply does not like horror movies as "The Shining" is emblematic of what a horror movie should aspire to be and is a tribute to the horror movie genre that can be watched over and over again, the horror of which will never quite leave you.
P.S. Incidentally, the movie known as "Stephen King's The Shining" is absolutely terrible and does not hold a candle to Kubrick's masterpiece...and, I do not care if the newer version more closely resembles King's novel because Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" is superior in every way to both the new miniseries and the novel...PERIOD!!
P.P.S. On a final note, this movie is finally being released as a special edition which is long overdue. It is my hope that the picture and sound are improved dramatically by this edition. However, my review is strictly about the brilliance of this masterpiece known as "The Shining".
Summary of The Shining (Two-Disc Special Edition)
SHINING:SPECIAL EDITION - DVD MovieSimilar DVD Movies
MiseryMGM; Release date: 2000-08-01; DVD
Best price: $7.19
Price in other shops:
Carrie (Special Edition)SPACEK,SISSY; Release date: 2001-08-28; DVD
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops:
Stephen King's ItWarner Brothers; Release date: 2002-10-01; Published: 2002-10-01; DVD
Best price: $3.01
Price in other shops:
Barry LyndonWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-10-23; DVD
Best price: $9.74
Price in other shops:
The Silence of the Lambs (Full Screen Edition)Sony; Release date: 2004-08-24; DVD
Best price: $7.09
Price in other shops:
The Exorcist (The Version You've Never Seen)BLAIR,LINDA; Release date: 2000-12-26; DVD
Best price: $3.87
Price in other shops:
Eyes Wide Shut (R-Rated Edition)Warner; Release date: 2001-06-12; DVD
Best price: $9.22
Price in other shops:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Two-Disc Special Edition)NICHOLSON/DOURIF/FLETCHER/SAMPSON; Release date: 2002-09-24; DVD
Best price: $6.17
Price in other shops:
Full Metal JacketWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-05-15; DVD
Best price: $5.47
Price in other shops:
A Clockwork Orange (Two-Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-10-23; DVD
Best price: $5.91
Price in other shops: