When it comes to annual watches of horror classics, for me the ultimate Halloween staple is and probably always will be Stanley Kubrick’s legendary film The Shining.
The psychological horror has always been admired for its eerie and mysterious filmmaking and its chilling impact on audiences, and it has been globally considered an extraordinary piece of cinema since its release 45 years ago in 1980. Originally based on the book by Stephen King,
The Shining is centred around Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic and aspiring writer, who is offered a job as the winter groundskeeper for the Overlook Hotel, which holds a history of sinister events and a sinister presence. When he accepts the job and moves into the empty hotel with his wife Wendy and son Danny (who has psychic mental abilities), terror begins to unleash as his behaviour becomes violent and erratic, his son receives horrifying visions and the menacing paranormal soul of the hotel reveals itself from its place in room 237.
Themes and techniques
The film intensely explores the themes of isolation and how breakable the human mind is when faced with only itself without any socialisation. This aspect is increasingly portrayed in Jack, who resorts his time back towards writing his novel which causes his mind to unravel drastically and send him into madness. His behaviour becomes erratic as he experiences stronger anger towards his family, while the supernatural presence of the hotel possesses him into seeing a past party from the lounge, allowing him to imaginatively talk with the bartender and the former caretaker who entailed murdering his family and how Jack should ‘correct’ them by doing the same.
It also explores areas of domestic violence and family breakdown. In particular, it reveals how Jack’s life has been focused over by his family, and possibly how he feels his life would have more potential if he was a writer, as he is constantly seen fed up and has thrown numerous insults towards his wife when she distracts him from working.
The hotel visualises to him how his life would be better if his family want around, giving him false visions of another naked woman and an itch to murder his wife and son. Not only does the hotel break into Jack, but also his son Danny, who is able to see the dark history of the hotel and its future evil events.
The film focuses more on the psychological spiralling of the main character and the grim result of his isolation, whereas the book is more oriented on the literal supernatural evil of the hotel and Jack’s attempts to fight against it tormenting him.
Kubrick’s masterful use of camera techniques and lighting allow for stronger levels of fear to be felt by and captivate the audience, particularly through the uncomfortable feelings of claustrophobia and immersion into the screen with his range of wide shots and point perspective approaches. His use of bright lighting also throughout creates an unsettling contrast with the overall horror of the hotel and darkness of the film’s themes.
Not only did the crafting of the film build such a frightening atmosphere, but the high level acting skills largely contributed to the film’s impact. Jack Nicholson wanted to deeply immerse himself in the role by following isolation techniques in order to break his sanity so that he could appear as insanely as possible for the film.
The Shining is personally one of my favourite films of all time, and I feel everything about it is immaculate from start to finish. Now its time to rewatch!
Featured image credit: CNN
Third year journalism student at Stirling University