I heard, from Mick Garris (director of about 5 SK adaptations), Stephen King was unhappy about Kubrick's Shining because it didn't deal with any emotions. Other than fear. And probably because of the hedge maze as opposed to the living hedge animals. I personally think both would have been great to use in a Shining movie. But, whatever... The Shining succeeds on atmosphere. But I can't think of much else that makes it great. At all. Oh yeah, that great opening. And the music was okay. But that's it. I'm dying to see Garris's version. A lot of people are actually saying it's really good. Some say it's the only good movie he ever made, while others adore his adaptation of The Stand.
I love Rosemary's Baby because of how interesting, freaky, and well-made it is. It is one of the most fascinating movies I've ever seen. Maybe it's not scary to some people. But it's still wonderful. And in my opinion, the greatest contemporary horror film ever made. Nothing else even comes close to beating this as the best horror film of it's time. Because of how amazingly detailed it is. And one of the very first to really bring horror out of the old-world gothic and into modern times. I'd hate to think what is "not boring" if Rosemary's Baby is
actually boring. It really makes you think.
Jaws is far too dramatic for me. I know for a lot of people a movie's focus on drama makes the horror more effective, but not for me. To me, Jaws has maybe 2 or 3% horror, 20% action, and the rest is drama, drama, drama. And once they got on that boat, I found the whole film to be a bore. Plus, I hated that Quinn guy. He might have been a great shark hunter, but I thought he was a jerk.
Spaulding has a lot of great films on his list with the exception of this one, The Haunting
Really? The 1963 version? Boy, I'm glad someone else didn't like it. I thought I was the only one.