100 Greatest Horror Movies Of All Time

3. The Shining

The Shining Jack Nicholson Through Door
Warner Bros.

Stephen King may have claimed for a long time that he wasn't a fan - mostly because of the liberties Stanley Kubrick took in adapting his story - but The Shining is THE towering achievement in horror movie history and that's why it's at number one in this list. Wait... what? Number THREE? Well, that's what we get for democracy.

Kubrick's ode to the escalating frustration of mundane being is a pitch-perfect portrait of descent as Jack Nicholson's career-best work unfolds like a horrifying flower blossoming and trying to murder its entire family. Bit of a mixed metaphor there, but still reeling at this not being number one, to be honest.

Alongside Nicholson, Shelley Duvall is incredible - which is remarkable given the fact that Kubrick basically tortured her through the production to get a "true" performance out of her and the atmospheric work by the director himself is simply stunning. It's a film that asks as many questions as it answers, with one of THE strangest endings of all time and it has transcended any of the criticism that might once have been levelled at it.

If only we appreciated it enough as a group, eh?

[SG]

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