Stanley Kubrick, over five decades, made only eleven films, but nearly half of them are masterpieces and each one is fascinating in its own way. He was a perfectionist who obsessed over all aspects of his films and focused more than just about any other director on creating atmosphere and character through the use of camera space. Watching a Kubrick film is really like watching no other and "The Shining", in my opinion, is his best.
"The Shining" is based on a very popular horror novel by Stephen King. In the novel a family spends a harsh, secluded Colorado winter in a massive Hotel, with the father serving as caretaker. The hotel is haunted and possesses its occupants to do it's evil will, and gradually takes hold of the father to try to kill his wife and daughter. In the novel the focus is on the supernatural aspects of the hotel and the possession of the father is just one aspect of the story. One of Kubrick's aims when doing pre-production for the film was to find out what really scared people in the late 20th century. Instead of the expected response of monsters or demons, more along the lines of the novel, the answer was a catastrophic incident within the family unit. Therefore the film focuses more on the Malevolence of the father and less on the hotel, and it allows Kubrick to explore a much more interesting topic.
This is most assuredly not your typical horror movie. It's an atmospheric, haunting movie about the dark shadow of the patriarchy, and its effect on the family. The movie focuses on a typical suburban family that is gradually pulled deeper and deeper into something supernatural. So it's the ordinary immersed in the extraordinary. Jack Torrance, the father, is a recovering alcoholic. Wendy Torrence, the mother, is a compliant, fragile, almost childlike woman. Danny, the son, is an anxious, quiet child. They are spending a harsh winter at The Overlook Hotel where Jack will serve as caretaker. In this Hotel the dynamic of this family plays itself out on a grand, horrific stage. There's the father who is going deeper and deeper into his shadow, partly because of the prodding of the hotel, and quite possibly as a result of his polar opposite wife who is a shadowless, goody goody, naive victim. The son caught in the middle knows he isn't safe between these two forces and develops an exaggerated coping mechanism which is his shining. He can see visions of the past, present, and future. An example of this whole dynamic in play is the classic Redrum scene.
Right before Jack really goes on his rampage Wendy is hiding, shut down, asleep in her bed. She isn't going to protect Danny. He has to protect himself as the child of an alcoholic often does with special coping mechanisms. So he has a shining, a vision of the immediate future and as he is chanting redrum in a raspy, high pitched voice, he writes the word in red crayon on the door.(which is murder spelled backwards) He then begins to say it more forcefully as he stands over his mom's bed, holding the knife that she will need to protect him. She wakes up jolted, sees the knife, and looks in the mirror opposite the door and sees the word murder written in red. Then Jack starts to hack at the door with an axe. It's a creepy and fascinating scene that sums up much of the psychology in the film.
Jack Nicholson really makes this movie with his top notch, over the top insane performance. He takes up so much space in the film and fills it with gleeful menace. Shelley Duvall is so exaggerated in her performance of this innocent woman that its almost campy but totally works. In their final confrontation at the end of the movie the raging Jack and the falling to pieces, overwhelmed Wendy are quite the combo. It's scary and hilarious because both of them in this sequence are so over the top as the hunter and hunted. Danny Lloyd rocks it as little Danny and kudos to him because its unusual to find a quality performance by a child actor in a movie. His reactions of terror, seen mainly in his eyes, as he's receiving his horrific visions are very effective. He also really plays this character well in subtler scenes. He always embodies a slightly troubled child.
The hotel itself is like the supernatural force of Man's darkest primal impulse and gradually taps into and possesses that place in Jack. It's not about some guy all of a sudden being possessed and told to kill someone. It's about a man gradually tapping into a very real place deep within that is pissed off at it's burden. It's the place that says "I'm going to do whatever the fuck i want and you better leave me the fuck alone and stop weighing me down with your fucking shit." It's the place deep within the Father that tells it's wife and son "We're going to do things my way. If you don't like it you're going to bleed." This Hotel for Jack is an invitation to go into that part of his soul and let it romp. The Hotel in fact is saying it is his work, his duty. Jack, I believe, is chosen as caretaker because he's ripe for transformation. He's stuck in this role of patriarch. There is a past of alcoholism and abuse towards his son. There is the hint at failure in employment, and he's married to this seemingly boring, classic suburban wife. He is representative of the dysfunctional suburban father who puts on a smile but feels miserable and angry underneath. This is a real person who, through the urging and help of The Overlook Hotel goes into a deep, dark place in himself, and it explodes out of him. So Kubrick is using the face of a Horror movie to tell the tale of the locked away place within the shadow of the Patriarchy, and its violent nature. This is such a big reason why this movie is so fascinating and unlike any other horror movie.
The first sequence in the film is a sweeping panoramic shot high above a winding road in the Colorado mountains. An ominous heavy based synthesized score hauntingly accompanies Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, as he drives his yellow car to the Overlook hotel. The closer he gets the more oppressive the elements of nature become, with grander mountains and more snow. Periodically there is also a rolling, high pitched shrieking chorus that accompany the music to give the scene an even eerier feel. When we finally get to the Hotel the music is at it's creepiest and there is a shot of The Overlook nestled against a harsh snowy mountain. The handheld camera used for this last shot feels like a hovering predator and the hotel looks menacing.
We begin to see Jack's descent as the family drives to The Overlook. Jack seems irritable in the car and it seems like Wendy and Danny are pissing him off.
Wendy- "Wasn't it around here that the Donner party got snowbound."
Jack- Irritably, "I think that was farther west in the Sierras."
Danny- "What was the Donner Party?"
Jack- "They were a party of settlers in covered wagon times. They got snowbound one winter in the mountains and had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive." (He says this with kind of an evil smirk.)
Danny- "You mean they ate each other?"
Jack- "They had to in order to survive."
Wendy- Disapprovingly, "Jack."
Danny- "Don't worry mom. I know all about cannibalism. I saw it on tv."
Jack- Sarcastically, "See it's ok. He saw it on the television."
Later it gets a bit more intense as Wendy walks into his enormous work area as he's writing.
Wendy- "Hey the weather forecast says it's gonna snow tonight."
Jack- Pissed, "Waddya want me to do about it?"
Wendy- "Aw c'mon hon. Don't be so grouchy."
Jack- More pissed, "I'm not being grouchy. I just want to finish my work."
Wendy- Ok. I understand. I'll come back later on with a couple of sandwichs for ya and maybe you'll let me read something then."
Jack- Irrate, "Wendy. Let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me you're breaking my concentration, distracting me and it will take me time to get back to where I was. Understand?"
Wendy- "Yeah."
Jack- Flipping his shit, "Fine. Then we're gonna make a new rule. Whenever i'm in here and you hear me typing or whether you don't hear me typing or whatever the fuck you hear me doing, when i'm in here that means that i'm working and that means don't come in. Now do you think you can handle that?"
Wendy- "Yeah."
Jack- Kinda crazy, "Fine. Why don't you start right now and get the fuck outa here?"
If you can believe it it gets worse later as he really gets in touch with his special dark place. Wendy has just discovered all the work that he's done since he's been at the Overlook. Page after page after page reads "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." This is also an iconic moment and it shows how far gone Jack is at this point. Shortly after this discovery:
Jack- Full fledge crazy motherfucker, "I think you have some very definate ideas about what should be done with Danny and i'd like to know what they are."
Wendy- Pretty freaked, "I think maybe he should be taken to a doctor."
Jack- "When do you think maybe he should be taken to a doctor?"
Wendy- "As soon as possible."
Jack- Mocking, "As soon as possible." "You believe his health might be at stake."
Wendy- "Yes."
Jack- "You are concerned about him."
Wendy- "Yes."
Jack- "And are you concerned about me?"
Wendy- "Of course I am."
Jack- "Of course you are. Have you ever thought about my responsibilities? Have you ever had a single moment's thought about my responsibilities? Have you ever thought for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers? Has it ever occured to you that I've agreed to look after The Overlook Hotel until May 1st? Does it matter to you at all that the owners have placed their complete trust in me and I have signed a letter of agreement, a contract in which i've agreed to that responsibility? Do you have the slightest idea what a moral and ethical principle is? Do you? Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future?"
The spirit of The Overlook, the voice of the Patriarchal shadow, has nudged and then led him to this place in himself. Earlier, after Jack has been accused of hurting Danny he fiercely makes his way to the deserted Gold Room, a festive Dance Hall when the Hotel is in season. He makes his way to the deserted, dry bar and says, "I'd give my god damn soul for just a glass of beer." Suddenly a bartender appears who seems to be the image of the devil. He dresses in a red tux, with pale skin, slightly pointy ears and cold beady eyes. He is more than happy to oblige. A little bit later he meets Grady, the ghost of a former caretaker who hacked his family to bits with an axe. He acts as the final voice of The Overlook, in one of my favorite scenes in the movie. The scene takes place in a bathroom as Grady is cleaning up a drink that he spilled on Jack.
Grady- "Your son has a very great talent. I don't think you're aware how great it is. But he is attempting to use that very talent against your will.
Jack- "He is a very willful boy."
Grady- "Indeed he is Mr. Torrence. A very willful boy. A rather naughty boy if I may be so bold sir."
Jack- "It's his mother. She interferes."
Grady- "Perhaps they need a good talking to if you don't mind me saying so. Perhaps a bit more. My girls sir, they didn't care for The Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches and tried to burn it down. But I corrected them sir, and when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty I corrected her."
The one of a kind cinematography is another reason that this film is a masterpiece of Horror. Kubrick more than almost any other Director is a master at conveying atmosphere and character through the relation of camera space. The cinematography allows you to feel both the vastness of The Overlook and the confinement within. Throughout the film there is this alternating sense of being dwarfed by this enormous environment and of almost being trapped in a tunnel. There are long continuous, sometimes winding shots to show the colossal space that they're in but so often they are framed in the camera in such a way that you feel confined and claustrophobic. In later scenes when the tension is ramping up, point of view shots also add to the feeling of anxiety and a "no exit" sensation.
In two of my favorite scenes in the movie Kubrick makes use of a steadicam camera which made it possible to film action in long, fluent steady takes. There is an iconic scene, which I always think of when I think of this movie, in which Danny is riding his tricycle around the corridors of the hotel and the camera is right behind him, at almost exactly the same level. As he rides he alternates between riding over carpets and hard floors. What occurs as a result of all of this is a mood of overactive anxious energy which is probably what Danny is feeling inside. The whole scene is also filmed with a long lens, also, once again creating the feeling of being trapped. The other scene filmed in much the same way is the Hedgemaze scene at the end of the movie in which Jack is chasing Danny with an axe. You truly feel the immediacy of Danny's terror, and the real feeling of being chased in an imprisoned setting. You also feel the hunter in Jack as the camera settles in front of him. He encompasses all of the space in the frame so you also fully feel his madness. The two of these together create an incredibly visceral experience. Once again, through Kubrick's cinematography we truly feel the experience of these characters.
Kubrick also does a great job using lighting, color, and music to intensify the atmosphere in the film. Most of the film is well lit and it creates both a false sense of security and a surreal atmosphere. Haunted house movies are supposed to be dark. It kind of creates more of a sense of unease because it doesn't feel quite right. The lighting also symbolizes the ordinary. Things can happen in the family. Things can happen even when there's lots of light. The main color motif in the movie is red. It makes things bright and it feels dangerous. The bartender wears red, the bathroom is red when Jack has his talk with Grady, and much of the rest of the hotel is also red. The use of music throughout adds to a feeling of great unease. A high pitched ringing followed by a low rumbling base precedes Danny's horrific visions. The final third of the film is accompanied by a rythmic heartbeat, that same rumbling base, a loud rapidly beating, high pitched drumstick, a more violent, pounding base, and a loud, eery, high pitched devilish chorus of shrieking.
I'll end with my favorite scene in the movie, and one of my favorite moments in all of film. Jack, early in the film is in his massive workspace. The first thing we see is the typewriter and then we hear a loud banging noise as the camera pans up and shows Jack violently throwing a ball against the wall. That first image and the sound accompanying it says everything about the man in the moment. He's tired of fucking working. He wants to play. He walks over to a miniature replica of the gargantuan hedgemaze located in front of The Overlook Hotel. He hovers over it, looking menacingly down upon it. As he does this we get a shot of what at first looks like the miniature maze but is actually a very high shot of Danny and Wendy walking into the middle of the actual maze. The scene then shows them in the maze and the way the camera moves in front and back of them, and the limited space it occupies, you feel trapped and anxious. This is how they feel inside at this Hotel. As Jack looks down from he is the master of his domain and loving the freedom. He is the cat and they are the mice.
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