The Shining

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - 1.33:1, non-16x9, Dolby Digital 1.0
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1980	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	114:45 minutes	Other Extras	Documentary - The Making of "The Shining" (33 mins) Main Menu Music
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (36:44)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie
Region	2,4	Director	Stanley Kubrick
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Jack Nicholson Shelley Duvall Scatman Crothers Danny Lloyd
RRP	$29.95	Music	Wendy Carlos Rachel Elkind

    Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) has successfully applied for the position of winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies, a position that basically lasts five, long months. Being a winter caretaker is a very lonely job and the isolation can have some profound effects upon people - as one such caretaker found out, resulting in his butchering his wife and two daughters, before killing himself, in the infamous Room 237. Undeterred, Jack brings along his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) to accompany him during the winter vigil, during which he hopes to write a book. Whilst things start out fine, the long, lonely weeks start taking their toll - especially as young Danny has the gift of "the shining" as described by the hotel chef Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers). This gift is something of a psychic connection with events in the past, and young Danny starts seeing some weird things in the empty corridors of the hotel. Obviously things go from bad to worse for everyone concerned, building to the climax during which the nature of Jack's existence is brought into question.

    Modern horror films seem to revolve around as much blood and guts as is possible to squeeze into a film. This is the perfect answer as to why they often fail. Whilst there is blood and guts in this film, especially with the demise of Dick Hallorann, the horror in this film comes from great acting and a great story with a slowly building climax. A film made for the talents of Jack Nicholson, his performance is utterly superb and it is inconceivable that any else could have played this role as well as he did. A pity that the choice of his wife was not a little better as Shelley Duvall is nowhere near as convincing as the frightened wife - as Stanley Kubrick seemed to think too, based upon the contents of Vivian Kubrick's documentary. Overall though this is a well crafted film from Stanley Kubrick and probably deserves its reputation on Jack Nicholson's performance alone.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, but is not 16x9 enhanced. The packaging incorrectly states this to be a 1.85:1 widescreen presentation.

    Overall, the general transfer is not very sharp and at times is extremely soft focused. Whether this is a transfer problem or inherent in the film is unknown, but it does take some getting used to the inconsistency. Similarly definition is quite average, with shadow detail quite poor, and the overall presentation is nothing more than average. The transfer also has quite a brightness to it at times, which sometimes is a little distracting.

    The colours are quite muted and this is not a vibrant transfer at all - apart from perhaps the very gross orange carpet in the hotel (very 1970's). This is definitely an indication of the age of the film, but despite the lack of vibrancy, there is a naturalness to the colours that is quite convincing. There were no problems with oversaturation of colours.

    There did not appear to be any significant MPEG or video artefacts during the film. Film artefacts however were very prevalent and were very distracting at times.

    This is a RSDL format disc, with the layer change coming quite early at 36:44. Whilst the change is noticeable, it is very well placed at one of the title frames and is not at all disruptive to the film.

Audio

    There are three soundtracks on the DVD, all of which are Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtracks: English (the default), French and Italian. I listened to the English default.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout.

    Audio sync is not a problem with the transfer.

    The score comprises original compositions from Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind together with some twentieth century classical compositions from composers such as Bartok, Penderecki and Ligeti. The overall effect is quite superb, and contributes enormously to the strength of the film.

    The soundtrack is very much front and centre and it really is most disappointing that a remastered 5.1 soundtrack has not been provided (probably one of the restrictions from the Kubrick estate). You will not need to worry about surround channels or bass channels at all during this film. What we have is not too bad, but what is not available is what upsets.

Menu

Theatrical Trailer

Documentary - The Making of "The Shining"

• a significant amount of film deleted by the censors

    The overall video quality is very average.

    The overall audio quality is okay for what it is.

    The extras are quite good in content if somewhat limited in extent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris
29th September 1999