I first saw this film when I was seven years old. Whether it was via a cable channel through the enormous satellite dish on the edge of our property or a beta VCR tape rented from Honzay's in Bird Island, Minnesota I don't remember; the only thing I do recall was hearing the old woman's laughter echo in my head that night (and it continued to haunt me for years afterwards). Don't think badly of my parents---I begged a long time for them to let me watch it and I daresay I'm a better film writer for having done so. The following article originally appeared on Televisionlady.blogspot.com as Sound, Redrum, and Isolation: The Genius of The Shining.
The Shining: 1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick.
"A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future."
I love Stanley Kubrick. I love the longness of his films, the creepy oranges, distinctive lights, how everyone faces some internal struggle, all of it. This film, horrifying as it is, is one of my favorites, ever. Disclaimer: I can't (and won't) talk about King on this one, the book and film are just horses of different colors in my mind (and ne'er the twain shall meet, right?)
Normally if a film is good, I try to break it up and talk about narrative, technical elements, and theme. In this film they are all one and the same, really---this experience is spiced with fear and evil, accentuated by isolation. There are very few events that do not pertain directly to these three elements. The Overlook is a hotel that makes Jack Torrance crazy (evil, isolation). Jack is a writer who can't write (fear). Wendy and Danny can't get out (fear, evil, isolation). The filmmaking exemplifies these themes by drawing out scenes slowly and sneaking up from far away, using color, sound, and motion. The hotel itself is shown many times to be a vast, grand structure among gigantic mountains and snow. Characters are constantly going down halls, coming upon different surprises, most of them unpleasant. Oranges, yellows, and golds vibrate with danger. The simmering teakettle instrumental music mirrors Jack's own boiling point, the glissandos up and down the scales by strings echo Jack's psychological ups and downs. The steadi-cam behind the big wheel that Danny pedals through the different hallways shows not only the difference in size between Danny and the hotel, but suggests corners, twists, and dead ends like the hedge maze outside.
They can't get out.
This film is what it is because they're isolated. If they were at a Howard Johnson somewhere, they'd just have to bust out and pound on a neighbor's door, but they are stuck inside the Overlook Hotel with no one but themselves and the ghosts (The Grady Daughters, The Woman in the Bathtub, Lloyd, Mr. Grady, Various Partying Guests, The Two Masked Men Engaged in (implied) Fellatio, etc.). That's scary.
The sounds: Danny's big wheel alternating between solid floor and carpet. Jack's tennis ball thumping against the walls and floors. The sound of the typewriter. Later, the axe slicing into wood. In the hotel, these things all take on ominous properties; they were done really, really well. Original music was composed by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind (excellent job).
Another thing the film does exceptionally well is foreshadowing. With a troubling story like this (Dads killing kids, etc.) you almost need to drop hints, or at least prepare the audience a little. From the very beginning, it's clear that there is one way this is going to end: BADLY. All the pieces are there: Mr. Ulman explains to Jack the murderous story of Charles Grady; Jack seems absolutely thrilled (!) Tony (Danny's imaginary friend) doesn't want to go to the hotel but won't say why. Shows Danny images of blood flooding from elevator. Um, yikes. There is a history of abuse (Jack injured Danny's arm while drunk). Wendy mentions The Donner Party as the family drives to the hotel (cannibalism). Through his conversation with Overlook Hotel Chef Dick Halloran, Danny discovers there is something bad at the hotel, specifically room 237. In other words, Tony was right to worry. As Wendy fixes lunch one day, a news program alludes to a "missing Aspen woman" who had been missing ten days after a hunting trip with her husband. Did he shoot her or what? Danny tiptoes to his room to get his fire engine and apparently gets a disturbing look inside his father's mind, prompting him to say, "You'd never hurt mom or me, right?" The blizzard. The phone lines down. The fact that no one else can get to them. This is the perfect storm of fear, y'all; things do not go well.
And Poor Danny. Not only does he have to get his neck all mangled by the old gal in 237, but through his shining, he gets a front row seat to Jack's Bathtub Lady experience, his mother's getting trapped in the bathroom during the whole "Here's Johnny" segment, Dick Halloran's unfortunate collision with the axe, and then the chase through the hedge maze. Enough, already! I'd say he probably needed some temporary relaxation in the rest home like Eddie Van Halen (Hot for Teacher) when it was all over, although word has it that King has already completed a sequel to The Shining which focuses on Danny's adult life. Heavy.
If you ever get the chance to watch the extras on this disk, do it. There is a documentary included, shot by Vivian Kubrick, and it's amazing. While I thought Shelley Duval was perfect in the role of Wendy Torrence, the little documentary shows an entirely different side to what was going on during the filming and gives you an idea of what working with actors is really like . . . it's funny.
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