The Shining

1980

 

Jack Nicholson as Jack

Shelley Duvall as Wendy

Danny Lloyd as Danny

Scatman Crothers as Dick Halloran

Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson; novel by Stephen King

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

 

If the winter scenes don’t give you chills, the story absolutely will!

 

The Shining is about a recovering alcoholic writer/former teacher who takes the position of winter caretaker at the Overlook hotel, a massive building so far up into the mountains that the local department doesn’t even plow the roads in winter. So it’s just him, his wife and son, and all of his demons. When the isolation starts to envelop him, the hotel’s demons start to come into play as well, causing horrifying visions. Soon, Jack can’t differentiate between fantasy and reality, and he unwittingly (?) places his family in extreme danger.

 

Not only is this my second favorite horror movie of all time (I might just have to review my favorite this October—stay tuned!), but it’s in my top five haunted mazes at Halloween Horror Nights-Hollywood as well. The attention to detail in the maze was incredible; the design team got permission from the Kubrick estate to create a replica of the CARPET for us maze-goers to walk on. I think we went through it two or three times just to stare at all the cool things HHN incorporated to make the maze as authentic as possible.

 

What else did I like?

• The music. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind did such a fantastic job with creepy sounds from all sorts of instruments. Carlos (A Clockwork Orange; TRON) is considered an innovator in synthesized and electronic music, and it is clear in the Shining. I love the bizarreness of the score, and it’s highlighted beautifully in the opening credits as the Torrance family drives through the mountains to reach the Overlook. Fun fact: the road they’re on doesn’t go to Colorado or Oregon. It’s in Glacier National Park in Montana—the Going to the Sun road!
• The super weird Kubrick filmmaking in general. He’s a wacko, and it bleeds through into his films. There are strange cutaways, extreme closeups, and the apparent emotional abuse of his actors, Shelley Duvall in particular. I can’t imagine working for a director who decides the best way to help an actor create a hopeless persona is by keeping her emotionally isolated from everyone else on set. Or by feeding Nicholson (The Departed; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) cheese sandwiches because he hated them, so it kept him angry. SUPER unorthodox, but hey. It worked. Duvall will be messed up for the rest of her life, but the film is great.

 

Weepy Meter: 0/10 It’s too twisted to cry.

Man Meter: 10/10 It’s weird, it’s violent, there’s cursing. Blood.

Overall Rating: 10/10 LOVE it. I could watch the Shining anytime, anywhere.

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/mediaviewer/rm2328459776