Stanley Kurbrick’s The Shining is an Adaptation of a novel by Stephen King. In winter, Jack Torrance and his family travel far from town to the Overlook hotel, to remain there as caretakers for a few months. While Jack is trying to write his novel, cabin fever wins him over and gradually leads him to insanity, which causes chaos and terrible events that affect his family.

Not only does the Shining including one of the most enthralling performances in movie history, performed by Jack Nicholson, but also due to Kubrick’s innovative techniques and directing style, it’s considered one of the greatest movies in history. In the tracking shots we experience the enormous and bewildering appearance of the hotel, which allows us to easily put ourselves in the characters’ shoes.

Danny Lloyd, who plays the son of the family, possibly gives one of the best child performances out there. His tricycle riding scenes in the hotel’s long hallways are some of the most iconic and memorable parts of the movie, with immaculate cinematography and sound design that only someone with Kubrick’s attention to detail can pull off.

The overall meaning of the film might be ambiguous and indirect, like most of Kubrick’s works are, and anyone can interpret it how they want, but with each repeated viewing, the film gives you more enjoyment as well as small details you might have missed on your first viewing. The Shining is among those movies that everybody knows, and it’s been parodied and imitated countless times in pop culture, which has caused it to slightly lose its elements of fear and surprise for a first-time viewer. Nonetheless, the film is still a masterpiece, and everyone should experience it at least once.