"Wendy darling, light of my life, I'm not gonna hurt ya."

I meant to tell you about a particular movie almost a year ago, but I got sidetracked by Death. He brought me Abe Vigoda and instead I wound up talking about The Stuff. However, the movie I wanted to discuss is still on Netflix, and thanks to millions of people who have nothing better to do with their TV or Internet time than gawk at the mentally ill, it's back on everyone's mind. 

No, there's not a movie about Donald Trump's cabinet yet. I'm talking about how Dr. Phil pointed a camera at Shelley Duvall so she could say crazy things about how Robin Williams isn't dead, just shape-shifting. He's both, but I don't have time to explain how that all works to feeble-minded mortals like yourself. I've got a movie to talk about.

This week's Thursday Thriller is The Shining.

This 1980 Stanley Kubrick film is based on a Stephen King novel. King hates the adaptation.

It's the story of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), his wife Wendy (Duvall) and their son Danny (Danny Lloyd). The boy has psychic powers and talks to his finger. Jack is a writer seeking some solitude so he takes a gig as winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, a swanky joint that rests atop a mountain in Colorado. The Overlook is haunted by the old caretaker, who got cabin fever one winter and chopped up his family. His daughters also haunt the overlook. So does some old lady.

 

So do people who like to put on bear suits and fool around with men in tuxedos, and vice versa.

What happens in a nutshell is Jack goes crazy and tries to kill his family with an ax. It's scary, it's trippy, and making it sure as hell didn't do Shelley Duvall any favors, healthwise. 

The Shining is a feast of disturbing imagery and sound that'll make your skin all prickly, no matter what Mr. King says. It streams on Netflix.