the shining

As in many of his films, director Kubrick exploresthe dimensions of the genre to create the ultimate horror film - hedeliberately reduces the pace of the narrative and expands the rather simpleplot of a domestic tragedy to over two hours in length, creates lush imageswithin the ornate interior of the main set, adds a disturbing synthesizedsoundtrack (selecting musical works from Bela Bartok, Gyorgy Ligeti, and Polishcomposer Krzysztof Penderecki), filmed most of the gothic horror in …

…a different way. Her heavy-liddedgaze takes an age to wake to the problem in hand; afterwards she resists theflow of terror and rarely makes a stupid move. Ultimately Kubrick leaves usshort-changed, wrapping events up too rapidly and leaving deeper motivationsunexplored, while the concluding ambiguous note is intriguing. A good to moralto this movie would be evil is timeless and spans eternity. As Jack hasreminded us, the potential for violence and murder is present in everyone.