The Shining (1980) – Director: Stanley Kubrick Adapted Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Joe Turkel OSCAR COUNT (0)
“Dick Hallorann: Some places are like people: some shine and some don’t.”
The Overlook Hotel is one of the places that shine. Of all the evil characters among all horror films ever made, the Overlook Hotel might just be the most sinister. First off for the uninitiated, “to shine” alludes to the supernatural. It’s a vague description both in the film and King’s novel. For people, the shining manifests as ESP, telepathy, and vivid premonitions. For places, the term “haunted” might be more appropriate. The Overlook Hotel, is most certainly haunted; it shines to its very core, emanating malevolence, always waiting patiently for its next victims like some ancient enormous vile predator hiding in plain sight.
Now how can a building be so ominous and foreboding? There have been uneasy feelings in certain places experienced by people all over the world, as if some unseen eyes are watching. This is what Stanley Kubrick achieved. Kubrick manifested all of those uneasy fears by crafting the greatest haunted house film of all time. That’s what The Shining is at its essence, a film about a haunted house. The Overlook Hotel doesn’t just want to kill you, it wants to corrupt your mind, shatter your sanity, and strip you of your will, enslaving you to become one of its minions for all time (or what you perceive to be “all time”). What other horror villain is so diabolical? And there is little clue as to why the Overlook Hotel is haunted in the first place. There is little clue as to why the shining is so dark and twisted here. These unknowns add to the horror as we watch in despair, as a loving, caring father becomes a psychopathic murderer.
Jack and Wendy Torrence haven’t had the perfect life, but then few married couples do. They’re a pretty typical husband and wife with their son Danny. Danny however, is not your typical little boy. Danny shines. So with the family down on their luck, Jack takes a job as caretaker for the Overlook Hotel, a grand old hotel that dates back to around the 1900s nestled in the remote Rocky Mountains in Colorado. From the opening shots as they drive to the Overlook, the tension and unease begin, the camera following the car as it winds its way through the bleak and desolate but majestic terrain of the Rockies. While the cinematography is breathtaking, it’s the music played over these images that creates the queasy feeling in the gut.
That’s what makes the Overlook come alive. The brilliant synthesis of the cinematography: the lighting, colors, and framing, and the sounds: music and dialogue, create this real sense that this hotel is indeed alive and wants its occupants to meet grisly ends. From Danny’s big wheel rides to the walks in the hedge maze, to simply moving about the hotel, the camera seems to sweep at the same speed, as if the hotel is always watching, always waiting for the right moment to strike. But then, the Overlook isn’t about dealing swift killing blows. No, the Overlook watches and finds weaknesses to exploit, then uses psychological tricks to ensnare its prey. Once the trap is sprung, its prey becomes the avatar of the hotel, and all hell breaks loose. Jack was the Overlook’s prey, and to put it mildly, it’s quite disturbing watching him loose grip on his sanity. For me, perhaps the most chilling image is the end as we slowly and deliberately dolly into a photo of Jack that he most definitely should not be in. The date on the photo is July 4th, 1921, Jack’s face wears a maniacal grin, a certain devilish twinkle in his eyes, the Overlook Hotel triumphant.
INTERESTING FACT ABOUT THE FILM: Stanley Kubrick was nominated for worst Director at the Razzies for his work on The Shining – I’m guessing Stephen King rigged the votes.
Couchside View 
Good read Brek – I always found the ending hard to decipher. So Jack becomes trapped as a part of the hotel’s history?
Yeah that’s what I take from it. It’s not really ghosts in the traditional sense that haunt the Overlook…it’s the Overlook itself. When Grady says “I’ve always been here”, it’s the Overlook “talking” here, not Grady’s ghost. The novel alludes to this a bit, but it never explicitly spells it out. It’s been a few years nice I’ve read The Shining though, but I do remember it being the Overlook itself that is evil. Hallorann’s insight that the Overlook shines, to me, is the best clue in the film.
The Overlook really wanted Danny because he shines. It would’ve amplified the Overlook’s influence a great deal. When it fails to ensare Danny it goes after the weakest of the three…Jack. It then uses Jack to try to kill Danny, but it fails here because of Hallorann (who brings the means of Danny’s escape). Still, it claims Jack and he’s bound to the hotel forever…or the Overlook will now use Jack’s essence or spirit or whatever to ensnare more victims.
Oh and the ending to the novel is quite different. I recommend reading The Shining if you enjoy fiction. It’s one of King’s best.
Interesting – I’d never thought of the film that way before. What about Stephen King’s movie version – any good and does it differ at all?
I’ve never seen it. It’s supposedly much closer to the book and goes into more detail about how Danny’s shining affected the hotel to a greater extent. I like the implied, subtle version of Kubrick’s The Shining. Using film as a medium, it’s less realistic and less frightening to spell everything out. In a book, you can get into the character’s heads, and King’s novel does this with everyone involved. In a film you can only really go by what characters say and do, or rather Kubrick decided not to get into the character’s heads. As a film, I think it’s less frightening to know exactly what’s going on. Still, in the novel, it’s not 100% clear why the Overlook is the way it is, though there is a bit of explanation, it’s never proven the explanation is true. It’s just an evil building and Danny’s shining amplifies its power. It is implied that Danny’s death would’ve made the Overlook an unstoppable killing machine able to manipulate, bend, and break reality easily.
Your best right up so far, Brek. Great job.
I’m a fan of this film. My dad owns it and turned me on to it originally.
Give it another watch sometimes. Think about the Overlook always watching in every scene. It creeps me out thinking about it, but then I’m a sucker for a haunted house.