Chris Pirri’s Top 30 Horror Movies: #2 The Shining (1980)

Nov 4, 2015

Halloween has now come and gone but we are still honoring my favorite holiday of the year. I give to you my top thirty horror movies. Now some of these films might be on every list, but some might not. I might even have a film or two that you have never heard of. Just remember this is my top thirty. In other words these films made me cringe or just sent chills up my spine. So with no further ado here is my list.

# 2
The Shining (1980)
Directed By: Stanley Kubrick

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Jack Nicholson is at his best in The Shining. In my opinion this is the best performance of his entire great career. He is Jack Torrance and his evil grin just makes you scared for his family and himself. For those of you that have read the book by Stephen King like I have the movie doesn’t quite follow it. Don’t worry its actually better because this is Stanley Kubrick’s vision of the book. He did a great job of doing some things differently and it worked.

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Jack accepts the job as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel for the winter. During the winter the hotel closes so it will just be him and his family at the hotel. We then learn that his son Danny has a special gift where he can see the past and future. He also has telepathy but as we learn it is called the Shining. He starts to see that this hotel is haunted and some very bad and evil things have taken place here.

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At about the same time we start to see Jack slowly lose his mind and turn insane. Jack starts to turn violent and turns his aggression towards his family. Will his wife and son get out in time or will Jack and the hotel get to them first.

This movie plays with your fears and makes you cling to the edge of your seat. The blood is very minimal. It is scarier watching Jack slowly turn evil in Stanley Kubrick’s vision that makes this a creepy and fearful movie.

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“Here’s Johnny”

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