The Shining (1980)

This post contains content not suitable for children. It contains discussion about domestic abuse, alcoholism, death, and gore.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, The Shinning (1980) starred Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvalle, and Danny Lloyd. It was based on the book of the same name by Stephen King. It followed a family as they take up residence in an empty isolated hotel for the winter. Soon, the hotel starts to show its sinister purpose as it influences the father into becoming a family annihilator, just like the previous winter caretaker, who murdered his two daughters, and wife, and then shot himself. The father, Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, is an absolute piece of work. Three years prior, Jack came home drunk and dislocated his son, Danny’s shoulder. Now, he is sober and his wife, Wendy, won’t forget this. Wendy, played by Shelley Duvalle, is a sweet doting mother, who cannot do anything right in Jack’s eyes. Meanwhile, their son grapples with his special psychic abilities, which show him the evil within the hotel. As the hotel corrupts Jack, Wendy and Danny must use their tenacity and intelligence to escape Jack and the hotel.

This horror film has become a fan and critic favourite and always ended up within the Top 5 of most of the best horror movies lists I came across. For me, it took several watches to finally understand the hype. My most recent viewing definitely opened my eyes even more. I imagine when you are critically analyzing you pick up on more details. In terms of the list of elements every horror film needs, I would argue that The Shining is an outlier as it does not fit into the campy horror movie genre. It does have an atmosphere, some elements of surprise, memorable murder weapons and a memorable score. As far as the other, I feel that although it lacks stereotypical elements of horror movies, it delivers with its incredible technical skill.

Horror Film Rating System

Category	Rating ( /10)
Performance	9
Special Effects	6
Violence/Gore	5
Score/Foley	9
Scare Factor	8

In terms of the performance, the actors were incredible. Jack Nicholson plays this part very well with his facial expressions, intonations, and eyes. One scene included below, has become infamous and all because of Nicholson’s portrayal of the mad man, Jack Torrance. The iconic “Here’s Johnny” scene also displays Shelley Duvall’s acting job. She spent most of the movie playing a distraught mother who mostly screamed and cried. It is an incredible performance that really holds the entire movie. It has come to light that Stanley Kubrick and Jack Nicholson may not have treated Duvall very well. In particular, Kubrick’s famously exhaustive filming process must have worn Duvall out from endless days of crying and screaming. The staircase scene, included below, was shot 127 times. Ultimately, it paid off but at what cost? A woman’s mental health?

Anjelica Huston was dating Nicholson at the time and they lived together in London. She says, “I got the feeling, certainly through what Jack was saying at the time, that Shelley was having a hard time just dealing with the emotional content of the piece. And they didn’t seem to be all that sympathetic. It seemed to be a little bit like the boys were ganging up. That might have been completely my misread on the situation, but I just felt it. And when I saw her during those days, she seemed generally a bit tortured, shook up. I don’t think anyone was being particularly careful of her.” However, she cannot ignore the majesty of the final product. “She actually carried the movie on her back if you look at it,” Huston says. “Jack wavers between sort of comedic and terrifying, and Kubrick was Kubrick at his most mysterious, interesting and powerful. But it must have been something for her to be in the middle of that mix. And she took it on. She was, I think, incredibly brave.” For a more detailed read about Duvall, I would recommend this article.

Stephen King’s opinion on the film is also critical of Kubrick’s direction. He stated in an interview, “The book is hot, and the movie is cold; the book ends in fire and the movie in ice. In the book, there’s an actual arc where you see this guy, Jack Torrance, trying to be good, and little by little he moves over to this place where he’s crazy. And as far as I was concerned, when I saw the movie, Jack was crazy from the first scene. I had to keep my mouth shut at the time. It was a screening, and Nicholson was there. But I’m thinking to myself the minute he’s on the screen, ‘Oh, I know this guy. I’ve seen him in five motorcycle movies, where Jack Nicholson played the same part.’ And it’s so misogynistic. I mean, Wendy Torrance is just presented as this sort of screaming dishrag. But that’s just me, that’s the way I am.” I find two parts of this quote especially telling, “screaming dishrag,” and “misogynistic.” It is clear that Kubrick exacted his white male gaze onto the story of The Shining. However, nobody can deny that this is a phenomenal film with its own diehard fans.

In terms of special effects, there was not very much involved. The main special effect scene was the aerial shot of the hedge maze. To create this scene, they took a smaller inner section of the maze and put it beside an apartment complex. Then, the crew would hang off the edge to get the perfect shot. Next, they spliced and superimposed with a shot of the hedge maze model making the scene quite iconic. You can read more here.

The violence and gore in this film are frightening and disturbing. There is one murder in the movie when Jack uses a fire axe to kill Dick Hallorann, the head chef at the Overlook Hotel, who was brought there by Danny’s psychic abilities. There is a striking scene where blood cascades out of the elevators. Finally, the yuckiest part in my opinion was the lady from Room 237 and her disgusting rotting skin.

This film has an incredibly powerful score and foley, which consists almost entirely of very high-pitched sounds that were ominous, grating, and alert the viewer of future danger they can do nothing to stop. It sets the mood of the film from the very opening shots. Then, as the tension slowly builds, the score and foley continue to arouse the viewer’s fear and foreboding. The combination of stunning visuals with the ominous score creates a powerhouse of a film.

This film is a slow burn in terms of scare factor. From fairly early on, we figure out that going to the hotel will lead to something bad through Danny’s visions. We are helpless. All we can do is sit and wait. The house doesn’t fully show its true nature until the final act of the film when Wendy is running around the house looking for Danny. A part of the film that is especially creepy and frightening is Room 237. The score really brings the scare factor up and establishes the Shining as one of the scariest movies.

I recommend this movie for anyone who loves the supernatural and slow-burning scares. I could talk much more about this movie, but I will leave it at that. Thanks for reading!