Film Review - The Shining


Fig 1. The Shining poster (1980)

Just like he did with 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Stanley Kubrick once again shows his talent for creating a film that leaves the viewer guessing what is going to happen next as the suspense builds (until they are jump scared by something as simple as the days of the week popping up on screen). The Shining (1980), based on the book of the same name by Stephen King, makes the audience feel trapped with no way out even though they are in a large space with several places to hide.

Like Black Narcissus (1947) the film deals with isolation but this time it is the isolation of being pushed away from someone and being unable to reach the outside world. Most of the time the characters are shown to be in different parts of the hotel and it is only when they cross each other’s path does the tension start to show, especially with Jack when his wife Wendy investigates what he is doing. “The isolation and its influence begin to take a toll on Jack, who slowly begins to lose his mind.” (Carl, 2013) It also seems to be this isolation that makes the characters more susceptible to the supernatural goings on as their minds starts weaken and break.

Fig 2. Overlook Hotel interior (1980)

To show us how large and empty the Overlook Hotel is Kubrick makes the camera follow behind the characters with tracking shots. Just by following along with Jack stalking cross the room or Danny riding his tricycle throw the corridors we get an understanding of how far they must travel to get from one point to another. Also with the way that the camera never seems to break away from the character has a mixed effect on the audience, first it makes them start questioning when it is going to end and secondly if the next corner they go around will have something waiting to jump out at them. “Instead of the cramped darkness and panicky quick editing of the standard-issue scary movie, Kubrick gives us the eerie, colossal, brilliantly lit spaces of the Overlook Hotel” (Bradshaw, 2012)

With all these factors put together the Overlook Hotel is not your normal place for a horror movie as there is nothing to suggest that anything is wrong, apart from a small warning spoken at the beginning. It’s as if the characters are made to believe that nothing can get them only to find out that it is each other that they should fear as the building makes them it’s new play thing. “Through the eerie way they turn this enormous building into something cramped and claustrophobic.” (Maslin, 1980)
Fig 3. REDRUM (1980)
 At the end of the film we are left guessing what really drove Jack crazy. What other dark secrets does the Overlook Hotel hold? And was Jack trapped before he even stepped foot inside the main door?

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