𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊 𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚘𝚢
𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊 𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚘𝚢
𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊 𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚘𝚢
𝚟 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝙿𝙻𝚊𝚢 𝚖𝚊 𝚎𝚜 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊 𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚘𝚢
𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊 𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚘𝚢
It seems like once a year practically someone somewhere exclaims that whatever particular scary movie is the “scariest movie of all-time.” One of the most famous to hold this claim is The Exorcist. I will agree that it is one of the best but scariest I have to disagree. Dare I say, with all due respect, it may even be a bit overrated. I know, I know, how could I say such a thing? The argument could be made that it was considered the scariest of its time. To which I would respond, if it were actually the scariest, it would stand the test of time. For example, just seven years after The Exorcist debuted, The Shining premiered and changed horror forever. Now of course both are absolute game changers but in my opinion, The Shining, still holds up nearly forty-five years later.
The Shining is still as resonant, disturbing, visually stunning and evocative as it ever was. I had the opportunity to see it in IMAX format for its 40th anniversary and it was every bit as impactful as the first time I ever saw it. Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance is as synonymous with horror as Freddy Kreuger, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. So much about it in the smallest details is famous. His grin. The Kubrick stare by Nicholson is legendary and endlessly disquieting. His menacing intent, his gaping walk and his merciless, ill-temperament is horror mythos. The ax he wields, the hate he speaks with, the conniving plans he concocts with mad spirits is nothing short of iconic.
So much of the film is quietly off-putting. It’s purposely off-kilter without any kind of obviousness. Rooms where none could physically exist, windows leading to the outside set within the center of the hotel where no window would logically be set. Everything is designed to be disorienting to some degree. Most often in movies the exterior of a building and the interior are two or more completely separate locations. This can have an unintentional effect subconsciously on the audience. In the case of The Shining, Kubrick intended everything you experience. His every intention was underlined with subtle disorientation and quiet discombobulation.
So much of this is achieved through editing and cinematography techniques. From the beginning Kubrick wants you to feel as if you are in complete understanding of where you are at all times spatially. He achieves this early on when Jack, Wendy and Danny are given a tour of their temporary home for the winter by the hotel’s manager, Mr. Ullman. In reality he’s already subtly manipulating your perspective. We are led to believe that everything we are experiencing is a seamless tour from exterior to interior when in fact it’s an edit between two completely different locations.
The transition between outside to in is deliberately left out as well as any transition from room to room within the hotel itself. This causes the audience to feel familiar with each area of the hotel without ever fully understanding how they reached each location. The connection between locations remains unknown throughout the story. This lends to the tension of never being certain where every character is in relation to one another. It creates this mystery of never knowing how close or far someone is, what might be lurking around any given corner or what could be waiting off-screen. This is a result of never being allowed to fully comprehend how each location connects with the other.
The Shining tells the story of Jack Torrance and his family, wife Wendy and son Danny. Jack has just become the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rocky Mountains for several months, the entire winter season. From the beginning the atmosphere of the hotel is wrong. It feels uneasy, brimming with uncertainty. It feels isolating even before the hotel is closed for the season leaving only the Torrance family behind.
It’s here, in the quiet isolation of a closed down hotel in the middle of winter where things begin to take a turn for the bizarre and horrifying. A sinister presence begins to influence Jack causing him to detach and become increasingly resentful of his family, hateful even. His son, Danny, an unwitting psychic, begins to see visions hinting at the dangers to come. When it becomes obvious that they must leave this place, Wendy desperately wants Jack to vacate with them. Soon she realizes that Jack is beyond saving and must turn to her son to protect him from impending evil spirits determined to keep them for itself, the very hotel is trying to imprison them forever the only way it knows how. RE𐤧ЯUM.
Everything is designed to make the characters and vicariously, the audience, feel cut-off from the world. We have all unknowingly entered an inescapable place whether inside or out, we are destined to become permanent guests of the Overlook Hotel. The sweeping shots of a beautifully pristine lake parallel to a winding roadway all leading to a foreboding, dated building set against the backdrop of a gorgeous mountainside. Distracted by the wild beauty we are blinded to the horrors pulling us in, gliding like ghosts reaching our final destination.
To clarify, I don’t mean to disparage The Exorcist at all. It’s a classic and one of the best of the genre. I don’t deny it. All I’m claiming is that The Shining is on another level of significance entirely. For a title like “scariest movie of all-time” to be thrown around, a movie really should have to earn it and I believe without question, The Shining is in the conversation more than most. The Exorcist entertains me and is genuinely scary. But I can shake it off the moment it’s over. The Shining is a cerebral journey into hell that sticks like gum in your hair. You can remove it but it’s going to take a bit of effort. This is horror royalty of the highest order.
Rated R For: disturbing violent content and behavior, bloody images, graphic nudity and strong language
Runtime: 146 minutes
After Credits Scene: No
Genre: Horror, Drama
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall (R.I.P.), Danny Llyod, Scatman Crothers
Directed By: Stanley Kubrick
Out of 10
Story: 10/ Acting: 10/ Directing: 10/ Visuals: 10
OVERALL: 10/10
Buy to Own: Yes.
Check out the trailer below:
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