Thursday, October 21, 2010

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Day 19-20

Day 19-20 of my Horror Film Marathon

October 19, 2010
The Shining (1980)

Probably my favorite movie of all time.  Of course I own it on DVD, but I always end up watching it on AMC when I'm flipping through channels.  I spoke to at least four people today that have never seen The Shining, so if you haven't... do it now!

Interesting trivia:

1.  The front exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel were filmed at The Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon.  All of the interior shots and back exterior of the hotel were built in a studio in London.  Director Stanley Kubrick had each of the rooms modeled after various hotels across the country.  For example, the men's bathroom where Jack Torrance speaks to Grady was modeled after the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, which was originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

2.  Grady, the former caretaker, never blinks once during the movie.

3.  The Shining was filmed on the same set as The Empire Strikes Back.  Much of the fake snow used in The Shining was used for the Hoth scenes in Empire.


October 20, 2010

LOL.  My friends Mike and Tara from a band called Lycia gave me this for my birthday.  It's a made-for-TV movie about a giant squid that kills people when they try to recover a lost treasure that it protects.  Kraken was better than I expected, but flawed on many levels.  The worst part, besides some of the acting, is the Kraken itself.  Looking like a giant hand, it does nothing to envoke any type of fear in the viewer.  Think of it as a Lifetime movie with a giant swimming hand that kills people.  :)


2 comments:

  1. I've been meaning to see The Shining. Stanley Kubrick is a master of filmmaking and Jack Nicholson is truly a great actor. That trailer with the blood spilling from an elevator is all I've seen. (We watched it in a film class I took.) Probably one of the most famous trailers for a horror movie ever.

    Those trivia points are awesome though. Really interesting. I need to see this movie. Stephen King's horror is so distinctive.

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  2. I remember that trailer when it was played at the theatre back in 1980! :) They didn't allow blood to be show in trailers back then, so Kubrick convinced the censors that it was rusty water! :)

    Justin, you got to get The Shining right now!!!!! :)

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