Pairic

The Shining: I saw The Shining on an IMAX screen last night, Long time since I last saw it so a lot of the detail was hazy. Stand out scenes were Danny's first encounter with the twins, the elevator of blood, Danny meeting Dick Hallorann, their telepathic exchange, at first Dick seeming sinister. Nicholson as Jack looks faintly demented from the beginning but his degeneration into madness and violence becomes more pronounced as his stubble turned to a beard, eventually looking lupine. Shelly Duvall as Wendy has a "cotton picking" accent (I'd forgotten about that), like a female Foghorn Leghorn. Great performance though. Great ghosts in Lloyd and Delbert Grady, the 1921 4ih July Ball is wonderfully imagined and must have been budget breaking. Also the shots of The Overlook with numerous vehicles outside, then the lone yellow Volkswagen. Still one of the great horror films. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Screenplay by Kubrick and Diane Johnson, adapted from the novel by Stephen King. 10/10.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2: Again could have been a much better film but the video game series put certain limits on it. At least I presume so. Still, it's good horror. We go back to 1982 at the original Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, Charlotte witnesses William (in his Freddy suit) snatching a boy, she is ignored by the adults and ends up being murdered. A cover up ensues. In 2002, Paranormal activity hunters Rob, Lisa, and Alex visit the 1982 site with security guard Michael (not Mike). The more sinister marionettes there are working and attack the vloggers. Charlotte manages to possess Lisa. We get the angry ghost motif, intent on revenge. Plenty of gore once more when the robots rampage. As in the original there is a dreamworld sequence but it is unsatisfactorily truncated. At least we get to see a bullying reacher get his comeuppance. Directed by Emma Tammi, who co-wrote the screenplay withScott Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback..7/10.

The Outsider: A child is savagely murdered but the accused man, Terry Maitland, can show he was elsewhere with witnesses and tv coverage. Nevertheless, he is on CCTV near the scene of the crime and there are witnesses and forensic evidence which places him there. A detective, Ralph Anderson, arrests him but the accused is shot dead by the murdered child's brother on the way to arraignment. It turns out that similar cases have occurred, people apparently in two places at the same time, all related to child murders and resulting in family tragedies involving more murders, suicides and deaths. Holly Gibney gets involved but her background is different to that of the character in Mr Mercedes, she is of Haitian extraction and seems to practice Voodoo rites. Otherwise her neurodivergent behaviour is similar to the original Holly. She speculates that a doppelganger is involved, more akin to an Irish Fetch. A creature which can adopt the identities of others. She is working with Anderson, Maitland;s lawyer and another PI. The DA doesn't want to know about inconsistencies and Anderson is on suspension. Four episodes in and I;m hooked by this horror mystery. Already too many twists to relate here. A sense of existential dread pervades the narrative and while most of the horror is psychological there are some violent and scary scenes. Ten episodes on Sky Sci-Fi. Developed and Co-Written by Richard Price, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Stephen King. 8/10,