So one thing you’ve got to give Kubrick, he only makes Kubrick movies. I’ve read the Stephen King book this movie is based on (though a long, long time ago), and it feels completely different from the movie… which in turn has that stiff chilly isolation that it shares with all of Kubrick’s films. Do you like Kubrick? Then you’ll probably like this, although it is certainly not my favorite of his movies, due to the part where pure horror isn’t really to my liking.

Also: It is set in the 1970s, which is kinda strange, because with things like 2001 that are set in the future of 1965, the anachronisms seem somewhere between timeless and part of the intentional atmosphere of the movie. But here, I kept being all “Why is he having people dress like this?” and oh, right, that’s how people dressed back then. It’s not really elaborate costuming as much as it looks like.

Also: Jack Nicholson can basically only play Jack Nicholson, but fortunately, Kubrick made this movie about Jack Nicholson, so that worked.