The Shining (1980) Analysis

The Shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick

4/5

***SPOILERS***

Kubrick's brilliant adaptation of the Stephen King novel is disturbing, haunting and creepy. It is everything that is good about horror films. The film has a lot of early slow set up and character development, setting the stage beautifully with slow tracking shots down many corridors in the large hotel. The mechanics of this film are brilliant, with all the information conveyed through smart and restrained dialogue and the visual imagery. Everything is laid out in the early scenes, the psychic powers of Danny, the tv in the background saying that a woman was missing hiking, the haunting shots of corridors, and the tension between Jack and Wendy. All throughout, the musical score (featuring the theremin), just tightens the tension through relatively mundane scenes early on in the film. The set design of the film is also great. The cinematography just amazing, the signature long tracking shots down corridors are iconic. The performances are superb and Jack Nicholson gives one of his best performances, although he has been doomed to be type cast for the rest of his career. It is one of the best horror films of all time. This film is all about tension, claustrophobia and speaks to domestic horror rather than mythical monsters, which makes it all the more horrifying. It is the repetition of imagery that make it so effective as well as the eerie performances. For instance it is disturbing when the innocent and strange Danny asks his father Jack "you'd never hurt Mommy would you?" and when Jack describes to Wendy his dream "I dreamed that I killed you and Danny. But I didn't just kill ya. I chopped you in little pieces." All of the pieces are there laid out beautifully, the joy of watching horror and especially well choreographed horror films is all in the anticipation. It's a matter of when and how the horror unfolds. Playing on the unseen and the unexpected, which unfortunately the majority of contemporary horror seems to have forgotten, or bungles. The Shining is an exploration into the twisted corridors of madness, a psychological horror, it plays off the audience's expectations of what is real and what is hallucination. Images such as the hotel filling with blood are intercut with the conversation with Wendy and Jack are particularly disturbing set to the high pitched soundtrack overlaid with the resounding of a heart beat.

Another interesting aspect of this film is the lack of guns, instead the violence is close and intimate. And thus all the more frightening and full of impact. The writing is so great and intricate that the early dialogue scenes lay out all the old rumours and stories about the history of the hotel, although at the time it seems somewhat trivial and that Jack isn't taking these things in that much. However, I argue that these little aspects are assimilated into his insanity and unfold in his hallucinations and Danny rather than being psychic is merely fantasising as a means of comprehending the fear and abuse of his father. For me at least, the less supernatural and thus more psychological aspects are more interesting, although the film is laden with deliberate and clever ambiguity. The use of child like stories and phrases are also particularly unsettling such as the iconic "All work and no play, make Jack a dull boy" and Jack reciting "Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in..." and "come out, come out, where-ever you are...". The bathroom scene where Jack breaks through the door with an axe is somewhat reminiscent of Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).

Psycho (1960), Hitchcock

Psycho (1960)

Overall this film is not only a great horror film, it is a great piece of visual cinema. Especially how the interior scenes cinematography mimics, the structure of the maze outside the hotel. The colours are used effectively, with many rooms painted bright blood red creating this strange landscape of colour in the film. Also, what is great about this film, is that the violence and gore is sparse and occurs very late in the film, so that the anticipation and fear has really developed and peaked, rather than being squandered earlier on. Thus, the impact and realism of the violence is all the more effective. This film is brilliant and should be on everyone's best horror film list. Re-watching The Shining you just notice more detail every time, it is a joy and horror to watch.