Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-09-10
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Dubbed, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 114 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is less an adaptation of Stephen King's best-selling horror novel than a complete re-imagining of it from the inside out. In King's book, the Overlook Hotel is a haunted place that takes possession of its off-season caretaker and provokes him to murderous rage against his wife and young son. Kubrick's film is an existential Road Runner cartoon (his steadicam scurrying through the hotel's labyrinthine hallways), in which the cavernously empty spaces inside the Overlook Hotel mirror the emptiness in the soul of the blocked writer settled in for a long winter's hibernation. As many have pointed out, King's protagonist goes mad, but Kubrick's Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is Looney Tunes from the moment we meet him--all arching eyebrows and mischievous grin. (Both Nicholson and Shelley Duvall reach new levels of hysteria in their performances, driven to extremes by the director's fanatical demand s for take after take after take.) The Shining is terrifying--but not in the way fans of the novel might expect. When it was redone as a TV mini-series (reportedly because of King's dissatisfaction with the Kubrick film), the famous topiary-animal attack (which was deemed impossible to film in 1980) was there--but the deeper horror was lost. Kubrick's The Shining gets under your skin and chills your bones; it stays with you, inhabits you, haunts you. And there's no place to hide... --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

Special Features
1.33 Full Screen
DVD 9
French
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English French
Dolby Digital 5.1
Vivian Kubricks Behind The Scenes Documentary The Making Of The Shining With Optional Commentary By Vivian Kubrick
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Trailer
Arabic\Dutch\English\French\German\Italian\Spanish

Synopsis
Opening with spectacular aerial shots of a beautiful, mountainous landscape, Stanley Kubrick's horror classic THE SHINING, based on Stephen King's best-selling novel, sucks the viewer into his frightening tale with quiet, relaxing visuals - but the ominous soundtrack warns that all is not right at the gorgeous Overlook Hotel. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson at his eyebrow-raising best), a Vermont schoolteacher, accepts a job as the winter caretaker of the glorious early-20th-century resort that operates only in warm weather because the snowy roads deny access in the colder months. Jack brings his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), with him, as well as his young son, Danny (Danny Lloyd)--who brings with him a little boy named Tony who lives in his mouth. As the Torrances settle in for the long, lonely months ahead, strange, unexplainable things start occurring in the hotel--and in every scene Jack seems to be growing a little more evil and dangerous...
With superb camerawork (the Steadicam follows the evil through narrow hallways and ornate rooms), extraordinary sound detail (the scene in which Danny rides his Big Wheel across the Overlook's hardwood and carpeted floors is an aural classic), and a terrifying score (based on the work of Bela Bartok), THE SHINING is an unforgettable masterpiece, a psychological supernatural thriller featuring outstanding performances from Nicholson and Duvall--and a cast of dead twin girls and suicidal ax-murdering ghosts, among other bloodcurdling figures.

Customer Reviews

THE ONLY ONE THAT STILL SCARES ME! GREATEST PURE HORROR MOVIE...
Book v Movie debate aside, this is a masterpiece, the ONLY film to ever truly, deeply scare me - and the only one left that still does!

From the opening titles through to the final chilling images, the feeling of dread & unease just escalates. Unsettling sounds & images simply BURN into the subconscious mind. There's little by way of modern standards, in explicit gore but there are still some of the most disturbing pictures painted by Stanley Kubrick that I've ever seen.

Much is made (rightly so) of Nicholson & co but the real star is The Overlook Hotel itself. One of the most atmospheric locations & sets of any movie. Interiors were shot at Elstree studios and match the stunning location footage perfectly ( I actually really thought the WHOLE film was shot at the real life Timberline Lodge location).

And the music really gets to you right from the start, it just sounds so damned EVIL!

Just terrifying - Scares me thinking about it! Couldn't watch it on my own - like I say, Exorcist, Omen, The Ring; none of them scare me in the slightest (still good films) but this, it doesn't make you jump, it just unsettles you for HOURS afterwards!

SIMPLY THE BEST
THIS IS NOT ONLY THE GREATEST HORROR MOVIE OF ALL TIME, BUT ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS IN GENERAL OF ALL TIME. DON'T LISTEN TO THE IDIOTS WHO SAY ITS BORING, THE PERFORMANCE BY EVERY ACTOR BUT ESPECIALLY NICHOLSON ARE MINDBLOWING, INCREDIBLE SOUNDTRACK, ACE NARATIVE - ABSULUTELY EVERY ELEMENT IS RIGHT ON THE MONEY. INCASE U WANT TO KNOW IF THIS REVIEW IS RELEVANT TO YOU HERE IS A LIST OF WHAT I CONSIDER THE 10 GREATEST FILMS OF ALL TIME:
CITIZEN KANE, GOOD BAD AND UGLY, ROPE, TAXI DRIVER, PULP FICTION, 2001:A SPACE ODYSEY, SEVENTH SEAL, GET CARTER, CITY OF GOD, MULLHOLAND DRIVE, THE HILL, ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, CLOCKWORK ORANGE, AMERICAN PSYCHO, BLUE VELVET, BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, WILD STRAWBERRIES.

A LITTLE MORE THAN 10, BUT U GET THE POINT!!!!!!

Short Changed
Yes yes, I agree with all the fullsome praise that has been lavished in bucketloads from other reviewers on here. However, this particular version is a very poor issue. For a start, it is NOT the original theatrical version. Kubrick was very displeased about abitrary cuts made to the film at its release in the UK and this DVD is one of the cut ones. Also, for anyone with a widescreen TV (just about most people), this version is in 4:3 NON widescreen. Unacceptable from a suposedly 'restored' print. Probably they mean digitally remastered which simply means, transferred to DVD from tape. If you like this film, avoid this version and seek out the Region 1 full-version which is a full anamorphic widescreen presentation. 2 out of 10 for bad work..see me after class!