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Late to the Party: The Shining (1980)

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Nekromantik 1&2

Now, don’t lynch me. I know, how dare I call myself a horror fan without having seen Stanley Kubrick’s take on Stephen King’s novel The Shining?

Well, to be honest, I’ve never been impressed by Stanley Kubrick’s work, and I’ve never been a big fan of Jack Nicholson. I have read the book though, and thoroughly enjoyed Stephen King’s novel of isolation and insanity.

The Shining really isn’t just a horror movie though. It’s a piece of history and a cultural icon. No matter what you do, you can’t actually see The Shining with virgin eyes. It’s been parodied and referenced in so many other movies and television shows that even if you’ve never seen the movie itself, you still feel like you have. I mean, when you get an episode of The Simpsons based around your movie, you pretty much know you’ve made it big, even if they don’t want to use the episode’s subject by name.

Image courtesy of giphy.com

As the movie opens, I’m honestly struck by how bright and clean everything is. It starts, without introduction, with Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson. The scene is innocuous enough. He’s on an interview to become the caretaker for the Overlook Hotel while they’re closed for the winter, but it serves to give us some insight into Torrance’s character, as well as a taste of the dark history of the hotel itself.

From there we have some blackboard scene changes to introduce us to Wendy Torrance, Jack’s wife, played by Shelly Duvall, and their son, Danny, played by Danny Lloyd. We also have a little introduction to Tony, which is the entity that shows Danny visions and is an aspect of his ‘shining’.

It made me chuckle that on their drive up to the Overlook, they had a conversation in the car about the Donner party.

Image courtesy of TheGuardian.com

I was expecting the hotel to have much more of the creepy vibe we’re used to with dark hallways, flapping curtains next to a closed window, that kind of thing. Instead, the entire hotel is brightly lit, with pastel colors that give the scenes a soft feel to them. Maybe that’s what made me notice Nicholson’s very hard features. All the lines on his face are very stark and his facial expressions are very emotive. I think it sets up a nice contrast which really brings out Nicholson’s portrayal of Torrance’s descent into madness.

Image courtesy of denofgeek.com

The descent itself is pretty easy. Not sleeping during the night, passing out to nightmares during the day, leading to hallucinations of a bartender, and then to a ballroom full of people where he meets a past custodian of the hotel. Torrance then becomes convinced that he has to teach his errant wife and son “a lesson”, ie. hit them both repeatedly with an ax.

As Wendy discovers her husband’s spiral into insanity, she fears for her son and for herself and locks them into her room. I think we all know the scene that comes next.

Image courtesy of fact.co.uk

Danny escapes, while Wendy gets a reprieve when Hallorann, the head chef of the Outlook during the summer, played by Scatman Crothers, returns, summoned by Danny’s ‘shining’. Hallorann then gets an ax to the chest, but delivers Wendy and Danny’s escape vehicle. But first, Danny has to escape his psychotic father in the Outlook’s hedge maze.

Like I said in the beginning, while I’d never actually seen The Shining before, there really was no way to watch it with fresh eyes, and I’m honestly a bit disappointed at that. I can certainly see why some people view it as a work of art, and you can watch documentaries like Room 237 to see how other people have analyzed it and found ways that Kubrick was expressing his opinions on Native American massacres and the like.

I’m equally a bit disappointed in how the movie turned out compared to the book. There was a lot they had to leave out due to time constraints, but still. Hallorann (the only character in the movie I really liked) had a larger role.

Likewise the Outlook itself was more of a character. The movie makes it seem more like we’re just dealing with a man going insane, rather than a building that’s thickly haunted to the point it almost has a life of its own. We do get a glimpse of the Overlook’s spirits in Wendy’s final race through the building looking for the exit, but it really feels disjointed from the rest of the movie.

Image courtesy of horrorfanzine.com

If you haven’t seen The Shining, it’s worth it. This is considered a classic for a reason and with as much as it gets referenced and parodied, it’s worth seeing and knowing why and where it’s coming from.

For more Late to the Party articles, try here.

Check back next week to see what Justin Eckert thinks of 1979’s Zombie.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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