David Cronenberg Thinks "The Shining" Is Not 'A Great Film'

He also thinks that Stanley Kubrick didn't understand horror.

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First Stephen King and now David Cronenberg—is 2013 just "let's all hate on The Shining" year? It's certainly beginning to seem that way: During a new interview with The Toronto Star about the TIFF exhibit "Cronenberg: Evolutions," the subject of The Shining and Stanley Kubrick came up, as Kubrick is set to receive his own TIFF exhibit next year.

What results is not only Cronenberg claiming his films are "more intimate and personal" than Kubrick's, but also saying The Shining is not "a great" film:

"I think I’m a more intimate and personal filmmaker than Kubrick ever was," he said. "That’s why I find The Shining not to be a great film. I don’t think he understood the (horror) genre. I don’t think he understood what he was doing. There were some striking images in the book and he got that, but I don’t think he really felt it."

Yikes. Cronenberg didn't stop there, adding that he feels Kubrick's films were made with the intention of being commercial, not personal: "In a weird way, although [Kubrick is] revered as a high-level cinematic artist, I think he was much more commercial-minded and was looking for stuff that would click and that he could get financed. I think he was very obsessed with that, to an extent that I’m not. Or that Bergman or Fellini were."

Do you think Cronenberg has a point? Sound off in the comments.

[via Indiewire]

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