Nick Frost’s favorite horror movie
As British comedy stars go, they don’t get much more delightful than Nick Frost.
While Frost hasn’t quite enjoyed the same level of overseas success as his best friend and frequent collaborator Simon Pegg, he’s every bit as talented. A hilarious, warm and generally wonderful actor in every project lucky enough to have him on board – even when he’s stuck in awful films like The Festival, Frost more than delivers.
His best work remains the trio of outstanding performances in the Cornetto Trilogy, but the actor is showing no signs of slowing down. His recent turn in Stephan Merchant’s terrific Fighting With My Family was a career highlight, and he’s got many more roles on the horizon.
Back in early 2011, Frost sat down with Rotten Tomatoes to list his five favourite films of all time. After naming Close Encounters of the Third Kind as his number one, he also listed Shane Meadows’ Dead Man’s Shoes, Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket and Raiders of the Lost Ark before concluding with his favourite horror movie.
That horror is perhaps the most iconic horror film of them all: The Shining. Regarding Stanely Kubrick’s epic picture, Frost said: “Just a great film. It’s a great horror film and it’s incredibly creepy; fantastic performances and just that sense of threat that is prevalent throughout the whole movie. I just love it.”
Nestled within the snow-capped isolation of the Overlook Hotel, The Shining unfurls as a haunting symphony of dread and psychological torment. Kubrick’s meticulous craftsmanship transforms the hotel itself into a malevolent entity—a spectral playground where the echoes of past horrors reverberate through the corridors.
As such, Frost is among the many who describe The Shining as their favourite horror film. It’s likely that most creatives who work in Hollywood have a soft spot for the movie, given that it is a technical tour-de-force like no other, layered with multiple different interpretations. It’s a stirring testament to what cinema can do, and it’s definitely among horror’s greatest achievements.
Kubrick’s visual symphony, drenched in foreboding cinematography and labyrinthine set design, becomes a character in itself—a haunting, ever-shifting landscape that mirrors the fractured psyche of its inhabitants. The iconic imagery, with the eerie twins, the blood-soaked elevator, and the enigmatic maze, sear themselves into the viewer’s subconscious, leaving an indelible mark.
Frost’s admiration of the film is matched by countless movie fans. Decades after its release, The Shining remains a haunting testament to Kubrick’s directorial genius and a benchmark in the realm of horror cinema.
