“I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m just gonna bash your brains in.”
As “Doctor Sleep”, the follow up to the classic Shining, is due to be releasing in cinemas soon and as we’re days away from Halloween, I thought it’d be fitting to review Stanley Kubrick’s beloved masterpiece. Today’s horror films are much more reliant on jump scares and gruesome imagery, but there is nothing that can horrify the soul more than the unknown, the terrifying unease of what lies beyond the closed curtain. The Shining is an era defining horror movie with imagery and lines that are still fondly, or not so fondly, cherished by many horror enthusiasts today. This is Stanley Kubrick’s timeless classic “The Shining.”
The story focuses on newspaper writer Jack Torrance (portrayed memorably by Jack Nicholson) and his wife Wendy (portrayed by Shelley Duvall) and their son Danny (portrayed by Danny Lloyd) who have all been given the opportunity to watch over the Overlook Hotel. Jack has agreed to be the hotel’s caretaker but is ignorant to the fact that the previous caretaker had gone mad and murdered his entire family, Jack is immediately set up as someone who generally unhinged from reality, even before he makes it to the hotel. When the Torrance family arrive at the hotel they are shown around by the groundskeeper who has caught on to the odd behavior or Jack’s son Danny. Danny is a troubled boy who often talks to his imaginary friend, but his behavior seems much more unusual, often his “friend” warns him to stay away from certain places or to be wary of certain people. The groundskeeper tells Danny he has a gift known as the “shining” which is causing him to communicate with spirits and see into the future.
Things initially appear fine, Jack spends most of his time preparing to write his article for his upcoming column while Wendy spends time with Danny, exploring the large hotel, but we slowly start to notice bizarre things going on. Jack seems to be losing a lot of his sanity while Danny is seeing ghostly apparitions. As time goes on, it becomes clearer what is happening; the spirits who are residing of the hotel, including the former caretaker and his family, are trying drive Jack into a murderous rampage. These goals are, eventually, met and Jack is out to murder his family, his frequent talks with the ghost of the former caretaker has urged him to go over the edge and it switches focus to Wendy and Danny’s survival in the snowed in hotel.
Since The Shining is a horror movie it’s main focus is clearly placed on the terrifying “live or die” survival element for the heroes of the story. The horror is expertly crafted as it doesn’t just start with the villain being a murderous lunatic, there is a much slower build which, in itself, is much more terrifying. There is a suspense that comes from waiting for that moment when Jack finally snaps and as he’s already a rather uncaring character as is, it takes center stage in a frightening way. Jack also isn’t completely mindless in his killing, he’s methodical and often lures his family into confined spaces so that they can’t escape, cornering his wife in a bathroom that he hacks away at for a famous example. And all these bloodthirsty urges that Jack has given into are made all the more frightening because it’s his family who he’s out to get.
One of Kubrick’s trademark abilities is the way he makes the audience really take in everything that is going on in a scene by hanging on it for as long as possible. In most films an extended scene can overstay it’s welcome, a scene with very little editing can really slow the pace down and make an audience member feel bored, but Kubrick balances these scenes out with an accompanying music track that fully sets the emotion you should feel, nothing about the soundtrack is anything more than unsettling and unnerving, there isn’t time to dwell on the happiness of a scene and the music wants you to shift your tone completely. Even the famous title scene features a very ominous track as the family drives towards the hotel, it immediately gives you a sense of unease and the feeling that everything is going to take a drastic turn from here on out. Each shot is edited minutely with slow dialogue and long takes, it’s pure genius.
Creepy imagery is a constant throughout the film; strange ghostly twins that invite Danny to play with them, a beautiful woman who mysteriously appears within the hotel and seduces Jack before revealing her old diseased body, a miniature maze that reflects what appears in the real hedge maze outside the hotel, including people, and many more. But while other horror movies may use this as an opportunity to kill or at the very least harm the main characters, they linger more on taunting the characters and pushing Jack towards his inevitable madness. The hotel becomes a character in itself and it becomes abundantly clear that it’s out to make Jack a part of it. Only Jack and Danny can see the spirits and it’s explained why Danny can see them, but the movie never tells you outright what the goal for the spirits is to making Jack see them, you put the pieces together as you go along and who exactly these spirits are based on brief information you hear at the beginning of the film. Modern horror can lack subtlety and most directors would be to afraid to not put the focus on what horrors are lying underneath the face of a film, The Shining dared to do something that was different.
One thing about this movie that goes vastly underappreciated amongst fans is the performance of Shelley Duvall. While many have criticized her performance as Jack’s often terrified wife, I feel she gives a performance that, while largely over shone by Nicholson’s Jack Torrance, is still a large part of what makes this movie so great. In every horror movie there always has to be a victim of a killer’s rampage, after all it’s not as scary if everyone is bright and optimistic, Wendy is also shown to fall apart as the movie goes along. Wendy goes from being a loving wife who always follows her husband regardless of his somewhat abusive tone of voice into a nervous wreck who is both trying to escape and bring back her husband. Each scene that Duvall is left to protect herself and Danny in has here in tears and absolutely losing her perspective of reality, the amount of anguish Duvall had to portray throughout was, in my opinion, absolutely incredible, and considering how poorly she was treated behind the scenes, it feels all the more impressive.
Stanley Kubrick has many fantastic and iconic movies from 2001 to Clockwork Orange that all dared to do something different, but The Shining feels like it captures a genre perfectly while also doing something different with it. It is masterfully shot and edited with brilliant acting from the three principal cast members, there aren’t any cheap jump scares and the more gory moments are only a small part of the true horror that runs throughout. I may have a slight distaste with horror movies but The Shining is what I see as his best work, but it could easily be toppled by his other works. If, for some reason, you haven’t seen The Shining, please watch it.
Side note: Heeeee’re’s the reference.
Written review by C. Johnson.