31 Days of Halloween #20: The Shining
The Lowdown: Writer Jack Torrance takes his wife Wendy and young son Danny to caretake for the Overlook Hotel during the winter. As cabin fever sets in, Jack seems to be slowly losing his sanity, while Danny discovers a hidden power with sinister consequences.
The Breakdown: Stanley Kubrick is pretty much my God, so The Shining had to show up on my list at some point. This is truly a horror film with a little bit of everything in it. You’ve got jump scares, justifiably earned, through the brilliant, chilling score. You’ve got psychological overtones about alcoholism and child abuse. You’ve got creepy old naked ladies in bathtubs. What else do you want in a horror flick?
Yes, R.P. McMurphy is a great performance, but for me this is my favorite Nicholson role. He absolutely gnaws on the scenery throughout the film, building tension using nothing but his facial expressions. The genius of his characterization is that in any given scene, you simply don’t know what Nicholson is going to do next. His commandeering of the film is a large part of why it works so well all these years later.
Kubrick’s brilliance shines brightly here, achieving what is easily the most sinister toned film I can think of. Between the absolutely chilling cinematography, employing Kubrick’s patented one-point perspective technique, to the haunting, almost operatic score, The Shining is, justifiably, one of the scariest films ever made. Scenes like the impossibly high crane shot capturing Wendy and Danny moving through the hedge maze to the elevator leaking gallons of blood emphasize an ethereal presence, subtly suggested throughout the story. The more Jack’s insanity takes over his character, Kubrick’s equally maddening filmmaking takes over the viewer, causing you to continually question and think about what really is going on.
The Comedown: The Shining is one of my favorite films, so obviously I’ve got a soft spot for it. Many have called it nonsensical, which I understand from someone wishing the film had a more linear chain of events. Truth be told, I couldn’t tell you what the fuck the ending means, or why anything happens in the film. Kubrick’s filmmaking confidence, and penchant for attracting conspiracy theorists, do wonders in deflecting the gaps in plot and logic, and in my opinion the film is richer for it. See The Shining this Halloween, you won’t regret it.