The Shining (1980)

Maybe it's because it's 30 years old. Maybe it's because the acting in it, aside from Jack Nicholson, is terrible. Whatever the reason may be, this movie is not scary, and from what I've heard the book is a thousand times better. Maybe it just needs to be remade. Perhaps Disney will buy the rights to this movie too and make it again. Who knows?

Don't get me wrong, I love a good haunted house/hotel story. They're usually some of my favorites. The Haunting In Connecticut, The Amittyville Horror? These are some of my favorite horror movies ever, but I just can't see The Shining being in the same group as them. Once you get passed the terrible acting and the old cinematography, you'll see that there is a good storyline here. I mean, it's your typical haunted house movie.

House is haunted. (Hotel in this case)
Family moves in.
Someone is driven crazy by the evil lurking in the building. (usually the dad)
Person finally snaps and wields an axe and tries to kill the rest of the family.
They either succeed or they don't, either way, the crazy person almost always dies. (Haunted houses always get their way.)

So that's basically it. I can't say I enjoyed this movie. It was too old, too long, and just had some really bad actors in it. I cannot in good conscience give this movie a rating. I don't know where it falls. it's a good movie, but it's not horrifying. Therefore, all I can give it is...