FREE AT LAST! Well hello BEAUTIFUL READERS, it is time to start posting again! AND NOW THAT I AM FREED OF MY HUMAN BONDS... I'm kidding, I'm not CALYPSO, but I am FREE! Now, hopefully, in the next few weeks - I will be able to watch MONEYBALL and CONTAGION (AT LEAST), and if I'm fortunate... perhaps IDES OF MARCH and who knows... that's about it. A VERY BUSY 2 WEEKS.
I need to CATCH UP with all my 'pet projects'. I believe I am two months behind with the PSYCHO project and I don't know... I'm totally lost! ANYWAY, let me think of some 'cinematic' psychos... I would name myself, but I haven't really done anything THAT psychotic yet. Or have I? Hehe. Okay, can't. SO, let's just talk about something else.
OH I just want to say that I was TOTALLY RIGHT, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are on EVERY critic's predictions' list... I can hear the bells, OSCAR bells are ringin'... now I'm quoting Hairspray, I need to be sedated. OKAY, we need to find a topic and STAY ON IT... THE SHINING.
The SHINING is a thriller/horror adapated from Stephen King's novel of the same name (I feel so WIKIPEDIA, except reliable... or am I?). Stephen King says that it's the ONLY [cinematic] adaptation of one of his novels that he remembers 'hating'... yeah, well I see why. NO, THE FILM IS GREAT. OVERWHELMING, like Misery, but quite great. However, I see why he hates it. It's 'unfaithful' to the source material and, in my opinion, is superior to the novel. I haven't actually read it, I can't even finish CARRIE... his writing style isn't super compelling for me, but from my 'research' (yes I don't just pull things out of my back pocket) the gist of the novel seems to be 'family haunted by the OVERLOOK hotel and one of them is driven to madness [and befriends an axe]'. The film is more complicated and multi-layered. It's not just a ghost story or perhaps it is...
I really hate talking about the plot, but in this case WE HAVE TO. Basically, a family is hired to take care of the hotel over Winter (five months in an empty hotel... oh yeah, what a WARM holiday). The Dad has a history of acoholism and the son has an imaginary friend - very normal family. There are things that we KNOW to be true, because one of the characters can be considered quite reliable. So the boy has 'psychic' powers... so what, doesn't mean that everything he sees is TRUE. They see things because, well, they EXPECT TO. The hotel has a rather dark history... empty hotel associated with a dead axe-murderer, wouldn't living in a place like that drive you a little crazy, just a LITTLE. I mean it's SPACIOUS, it's quiet, it's isolated... it's eerie and creepy, maybe you'd imagine a few ghosts just to fill the space. Once again, I don't know, I stay away from places like that.
So if you haven't guessed, the film is about 'external forces' stirring our inner evil, yes very MACBETH. I mean that ties very well with the acoholism theme, and it builds upon Stephen King's original idea. I mean, yes, being haunted could actually drive you mad... but isn't it more interesting to look at JACK TORRANCE (wonderfully psychotic, and of course who is MORE creepy than Jack Nicholson) swinging his axe around and REALISE that he exists in all of us. Though I do support Stephen King in questioning the casting of Jack Nicholson, because twenty minutes in and his eyes are already lit with murderous intentions. I mean, it's not his fault - he's naturally creepy, but someone more 'ordinary' would have strengthened the story. Though, he did the 'creepily silent' and overly 'psychotic' scenes well, I mean he brings so much conviction to the 'psychotic' side of the character.
Of course my favourite line in the film is 'Come play with us danny... for ever, and ever, and ever.' ... not creepy AT ALL. Okay I'm going to stop, I keep feeling like a hand is going is stretch out from under my bed and GRAB me...
P.S. Oh readers, come play with me... and stay for ever, and ever, and ever...
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