Jack Nicholson in The Shining (1980). IMDB photo

Here it is. Still an object of praise and some 40 years later still being hailed and scorned as a classic gem or overlong flop, Director Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” taken from Maine’s hometown great horror writer Stephen King, who by the way, hated it and made his own version.

MOVIE INFO

“THE SHINING”

Psychological Drama, Psychological Horror, Supernatural Horror, Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter, where a sinister presence influences the father into violence. At the same time, his psychic son sees horrifying forebodings from both the past and the future.
Length: 146 minutes
Rating: Severe violence, gore, frightening and intense scenes, moderate sex, nudity and profanity, with mild alcohol, drugs and smoking
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writers: Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd

Produced and directed by Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, it is based on King’s 1977 novel of the same name and stars Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall and Scatman Crothers.

But what we get here now, in Waterville’s Maine Film Center, is Kubrick’s classic film. If this is your first time away from the confines of the 58-inch living room box, be prepared to shake down in “Jack’s Land” guided by the hand of the great Kubrick on a very big screen.

It starts slowly with our Jack, picking up a job as an off-season caretaker. Jack Torrance, a desperate struggling writer and recovering drinker, takes his wife Wendy (the ill-fated Shelley Duvall) and already haunted son (Danny Lloyd) to snow-covered Colorado’s secluded Overlook Hotel only shown in exterior shots.

For many years now, many viewers journeyed to Colorado to tour the “set,” this included those who didn’t know the entire interior was filmed in England’s Elstree Studios, with sets based on real locations.

We’re told that Kubrick often worked with a small crew, which allowed him to do many takes, sometimes to the exhaustion of the actors and staff. We saw that in his stunning “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968). Here we go.

Jack, dealing with writer’s block, has to deal with the end of his talents.

We begin with meeting the manager Scatman Crothers who gives the family a tour.

Mr. Hallorann, the facility’s aging chef, chats with Danny about his psychic gifts and then warns the boy about the certain “abandoned” rooms especially Room 237. That’s enough to set us up.

Then our Jack seems to be gradually flipping his mind to space when the entire family started seeing strange happenings and nightmare vision. Prepare your mind to absolve Kubrick and cinematographer John Alcott’s magical deck of cards that will lift you from seats.

Now, voices in Jack’s head have other ideas and remember, this is Jack Nicholson’s head, where anything can happen.

Remember the ghostly young twin sisters, the elevator doors that open to reveal …?

Follow the camera down the long, empty hotel hallways, that after all these years have kept this writer out of hotels, and the famous bathroom scene, where Jack has trapped poor Shelly, and hear Jack’s famous improvised line “Here’s Johnny” as he chops down the door.

Enjoy the incredible work of cinematograph John Alcott and the score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind, without these two women the terror would not have worked.

“The Shining” plays at the Maine Film Center for one week only opening Sept. 6.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.