Jack Nicholson At 80: His 10 Best Performances

Even if you've watched this film more than once (and had many a sleepless nights having nightmares about the Grady twins at the end of the hall), you still get this palpable sense of unnerving dread about where the slow burning torture and insanity within Torrance will eventually lead to. Well, being a writer can be a frustrating experience, trust me.

Of course, it results in all sorts of madcap and psychedelic mayhem that ranges from Torrance snogging the hot-looking chick who suddenly transforms into a mutilated old hag, to the famous smashing axe through the door scene along with that line from Nicholson: "Here's Johnny!"

And yet it's the quietly built-up focus on Torrance before his descent into full-blown madness that is arguably more psychologically disturbing. The simple things like Torrance continuously bouncing a tennis ball; when his wife Wendy interrupts him whilst he's typing that masterpiece, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"; when Torrance "comforts" his son Danny after he asks whether his dad would hurt him and his mum.

It's also in the stare Nicholson possesses, especially when over the model hedge maze, whilst Wendy and Danny venture into the real one at the exact same time.