Dir. Stanley Kubrick
Watching movies that have been such an integral part of pop culture for the first time is always weird. You already know the ending, or iconic lines, scenes or camera shots but you finally know the context. Sometimes it’s a bit of a let down because it’s been “spoiled” already but often you realize that you don’t actually know as much as you think you do. (See: every “23 iconic misremembered movie lines” listicle ever.)
On the first day of Hallow-month the theatrical re-release brought to me: The Shining. It was one of those movies I’d been meaning to see for years never got around to due to my general hatred of horror, horror lite, or anything that will get my heart rate up or startle me. But I’m grown now and have started torturing myself in the name of aspiring film critic validity. So here are my thoughts in no particular order and with absolutely no spoiler warning because the movie is almost 40 years old.
In tandem with the more flashy transitions- the acting seems like it becomes more focused and grounded towards the end. At the beginning it was almost campy, giant grins and loud speaking voices, especially with Jack Torrance Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and the manager of the Overlook Hotel. Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall) and Danny (Danny lloyd) were a smidge more down to earth but to be honest I found myself still thinking “why on earth is everyone acting like this? It’s cartoonish.” But then once the nuclear family is alone you get these stripped down versions of the characters, like around other people they were putting on this show and that’s why they seemed so over the top.
One of the first things I noticed, and with no disrespect to Kubrick as a legendary director, was that watching the beginning of the movie felt like a powerpoint made by me in 4th grade when I discovered transitions. FADE OUT. scene. FADE OUT. scene. FADE OUT. But interestingly- those transitions tapered off towards the end of the movie as the tension built up. (Probably because there’s just nothing scary about a fade out)
The infamous Shining Twins….are actually only in the movie for like 30 seconds. I was prepared to be scared when I got my first glimpse but then they really only appeared two more times for a couple seconds. If anything I’m shocked Tony isn’t a bigger part of the culture- that awful voice went from slightly weird to terrifying after Tony’s 3rd appearance. (Although it’s perfectly possible he’s been referenced tons of time in front of me but I just had no idea.)
BLACK PEOPLE REALLY HAVE TO DIE IN EVERY HORROR MOVIE HUH? MY MAN HALLORANN (Scatman Crothers) WAS OUT HERE CHILLING WITH HIS UNNECESSARY NUDE LADY POSTERS BUT HE’S SUCH A GOOD BRO HE FLEW ALL THE WAY TO DENVER JUST. TO. GET. AXED. IN. THE. CHEST. IMMEDIATELY. Maybe I hoped for too much but I wanted him to actually serve the plot in some way before his inevitable gruesome murder. (or…ahem…REDRUM)
That soundtrack and sound editing was so creepy but I love that it wasn’t simply musical notes. It mixed in all these nature or environmental sounds. A lot of the quieter scenes were accompanied by just the sound of rushing wind to add this sinister vibe. Or when Danny was riding his tricycle around the Overlook, the sound of the wheels rolling over wood then carpet then wood again created its own creepy ambiance. Whatever the exact opposite of ASMR is, it was that. There were times where the music was absolutely blaring but they took every opportunity to make normal everyday sounds menacing. Throughout the movie I kept trying to find movies to compare it to and could only think of two. Thoroughbreds (2018) similarly used a kind of metallic, coins-falling-down-the-stairs sound to rev up the tension. And in one scene where Danny asks his dad if he likes the hotel or wants to hurt them, there’s this swell of music that I could only describe in the moment as dark-sided Willy Wonka. Specifically the music for the acid trip boat ride through the tunnel (in the 1971 version), which is already ominous, but felt like it’d been turned up to 11.
(Edit: After typing that I went to rewatch that boat scene on youtube to see if I could still hear some similarities in the music- and one of the comments was “Directed by Stanley Kubrick”. I’M ONTO SOMETHING HERE)
Despite being a pretty excellent example of rising tension, this movie is too damn long. We could have trimmed some off the middle if I’m being honest. Or dragged out the final chase a bit longer. The rest of the movie establishes how large the Overlook Hotel is and how much time Danny spent exploring it- I think they could have played the cat and mouse game in there for a bit longer. They could’ve taken Hallorann out entirely since all they did with him was kill him and make me sad. Also randomly drop the N-word on me when I was least expecting it.
I didn’t want to look up other movie interpretations yet before writing this but the ending definitely left me a bit confuzzled. Did the original caretaker that we see in John?’s hallucination exist at all or was he just a figment of his imagination pushing him to murder his family? Did evil jim gaffigan kill his family or was Torrance reincarnated?? Someone explain things to me.But the questions it left me with means I will be in a The Shining video essay spiral for the next week and a half minimum.
I could honestly go on for a while about Jack Nicholson’s eyebrows alone, without even mentioning things like the camera work (amazing) or the set design (beautiful). I’m still a bit conflicted about the ending of the film but I’m definitely going to be watching this movie regularly until I can make up my mind.