The Shining (1980)
I’m not the biggest horror fan, I don’t frequently watch horror film nor do I necessarily enjoy being scared. One of my biggest pet peeves within film is horror movies that are actually just bad movies with terrible plot and writing, but with a few jump scares. Words can’t express the disappointment I feel when the people I’m around want to watch a lowbrow horror movie just because they like the jump scares. There is an art to horror film that is hard to capture, yet when executed well, can be an incredibly engaging cinematic experience. I guess what I’m really saying here is that I only like good horror movies. This holiday weekend, I rewatched The Shining with my cousins and sister, and I was shocked at how much I loved it. It was the right amalgamation of horror, suspense, drama, and not to mention incredible camerawork and acting from Jack Nicholson.
The Shining was directed by the iconic Stanley Kubrick in 1980. Set in the Overlook Hotel in Colorado, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd) become the winter caretakers for the hotel. Jack is hoping to cure his writers block while staying at the hotel. As the winter progresses, Jack continues to struggle with writing and Danny starts to have disturbing visions. The family begins to uncover the dark secrets of the hotel which leads to Jack turning into a murderous psychopath dead set on killing his wife and son.
This movie was adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same title, published in the winter of 1977. It was King’s third published novel and it was a bestseller. The Shining is a film well loved by almost all except Stephen King himself. King has expressed over the years that he thinks the film “looks great” yet lacks an engine to keep it going. Though I have not read the book, I’m sure it’s fantastic in ways that are different from how the film explores King’s story. Throughout the film, Kubrick explores themes of isolation and family.
Part of what makes this movie so great is the setting, the Overlook Hotel. It’s this big beautiful building in the middle of nowhere Colorado. The Overlook Hotel is a summertime resort, making the Torrance family and the few hotel employees the only residents in the building. Throughout the film, the Torrance’s deal with some serious cases of cabin fever due to their intense isolation. Isolation plays an important role throughout the film because instead of learning about the Torrance family’s characteristics through how they interact with other characters, we learn about them through their isolation from other characters. The Overlook hotel is described as “mentally isolating” at the start of the movie, and as Jack’s writers block gets worse, a combination of seclusion and the effects of the hotel lead to the final scene of the film in the maze.
Another important theme of the movie is family. Family is the source of unity and conflict in the film. On the outside they look like the perfect all-American family, when really their family is being held together by a thread of insanity and fear of Jack. Jack hopes to beat his writers block while spending time at the Overlook, but when failing to reach his goals his intense insecurity about his future as an author eventually turns into psychotic behavior toward his wife and son. Family dynamic plays a huge role throughout the film.
This is my favorite Kubrick film, it never gets old. Everything from the cinematography, acting, plot, and setting. It’s a classic horror film that’s scary in a way that I approve of.
