Short(ish) review #12

The Shining (1980) - "A Masterpiece Of Modern Horror."

Every now and then, you'll meet someone who claims that they don't like or have no interest in horror films. However, they always love The Shining.

Based on the novel by Stephen King, the Torrance family are asked to mind the Overlook Hotel during the winter, with no one else there. However, the hotel is built on a Native American burial ground; many of the previous caretakers have gone mad and killed their families. As a result, the father, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), becomes under the influence of an evil spiritual presence and attempts to kill his family.

When the scary moments start to happen in most horror films, you soon discover that the phones are out. In The Shining, you learn that they're out at the beginning. There's no way they can call for help. There are some shots where the hotel is given all the space in the frame and the characters look small. Its presence
and influence is steadily growing throughout the film. Within the first half of the film, at least, you keep seeing Jack's son, Danny, riding a tricycle through the hallways and the sound of him is creepy, especially when the surface keeps changing from carpet to wood. That coupled with the visions of the twin girls, sometimes standing together and others dismembered all over the place.

Also, there are certain elements to the film which remain unexplained at the end. The most notable is when Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall) is running down the corridor, she's looking through all these rooms and she sees one with two people in it, one of them in a bear costume. You don't want to know what they're doing if you haven't seen the film. There is also the woman in the bath sequence. That really crept me out the first time I saw it. In fact, part of me wanted to throw up, it was that disgusting. You can see to some extent that Jack Torrance is getting more mad and psychotic throughout the film and that's confirmed when Wendy looks at typewriter and all that's written are the words "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".

Ultimately, are these elements of horror the product of the hotel or Jack Torrance? That's up to you...

It does also offer one of cinema's most memorable quotes:

My sister hates this film. She thinks that it is boring and does not understand it. She's entitled to her opinion, which is fair. She has only seen it once though. Despite the fact this film is held in such high regard, it received no Oscar or Golden Globe nominations, but did receive two Razzie nominations in their inaugurate year. Variety magazine said "With everything to work with, [...] Kubrick has teamed with jumpy Jack Nicholson to destroy all that was so terrifying about Stephen King's bestseller." However, more recent analyses have been more favourable towards it, being won over by its slow pace.

What did Stephen King have to say about it? Well, unfortunately, he hated it. It was the only adaptation of his novels he remembered hating. Key themes were ignored, such as the dangers of alcoholism and the disintegration of the family. He also expressed the casting of Jack Nicholson as a mistake, especially giving off hints that Jack Torrance would go mad (audiences would associate Nicholson with too much with One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest). He would rather have casted Jon Voight, Michael Moriarty or Christopher Reeve. He also described Shelley Duvall's character as being "misogynistic", that she was emotionally unstable and only there to scream. Her performance is the opposite to what he had intended her to be. It's no hidden secret that Kubrick picked on her, losing his temper with her to get a more effective performance from her. Recently Stephen King has been speaking about his new sequel to The Shining, even though he is a bit nervous about the reception it will receive.

Here's a bit of scene recycling you may have noticed: the opening shots of Jack Nicholson driving to the hotel; outtakes of that were used for the finale of the original cut of Blade Runner (although you can't notice a small VW Beatle).

This is just a brief summary from me. If you want to know about The Shining, there is a documentary film called Room 237, which addresses the film's meanings and themes. There is of course the Simpsons Halloween special parody, where they look after a hotel for Mr Burns, who cuts off the supply of TV and beer for Homer. I do like the trailer for this film. It gives nothing away, although it does make you think: "Hmm, that's odd. Usually the blood gets off at the second floor..."