The Shining (1980)

Dir. Stanley Kubrick

Based on a novel, of the same name, written by Stephen King, director Stanley Kubrick takes his film away from Kings ghostly, haunted house story and creates a psychological thriller that torments its audiences mind as well as the characters. Jack Nicholson stars as Jack Torrence, a first time writer who takes a caretaking position at the much secluded Overlook Hotel and brings his family along for the five months of winter. In the opening scene the audience witness Jacks first contact with the hotel as he arrives for his interview, after a long title sequence that shows, without any doubts, just how secluded the hotel is. The dialogue in the interview filled with a falsity, each sentence is left to resonate before the next one is given. The audience arent able to attach to a rhythm of speech as the conversation is so cut off. The script is read with coldness as if the actors are puppets but the actors still manage to send forward a sense of the character. Its in this scene the hotels tragic past is revealed, setting the atmosphere for the rest of the film and giving tell-tale hints of

Figure 1 - Film Poster

whats to come. A previous caretaker, for reasons unknown, took an axe to his wife and twin daughters then took his own life. Stephen Kings novel focuses on the haunting of these departed souls; however, Kubrick keeps the reality of the ghosts ambiguous. He never gives definitive evidence of a ghost presence and makes it seem that the apparitions are all in the minds of Jack and son Danny (Danny Lloyd). James Berardinelli describes the film as a

study of madness and the unreliable narrator, it's a brilliant success. With its intensely claustrophobic atmosphere and suffocating sense of personality disintegration, The Shining is as unsettling as anything (Berardinelli: 2009).
Everything seems to be in a state of madness which brings the audience into it. The evil that resided in the hotel is undefined; if the enemy is given a face then it becomes less frightening so the horror in The Shining comes from
Figure 2 - Haunting Twins

this knowable evil. The audience are unable to assign the happenings to the supernatural which would allow them to

remove it from their own reality. Unlike in some horror films where the characters are just players in the game of the sick-minded, Kubricks characters are as important to the story and the hotels past. Roger Ebert poses a good question in his review, Who is the reliable observer? Whose idea of events can we trust? (Ebert: 2006). By reliable observer he means character through which the audience are able to see the reality. An audience can be brought in to see something through the eyes and delusions of a character then, often, they are allowed to see the reality through the eyes of a reliable observer(s), The Shining offers

no such relief. Again, Kubrick removes the audiences safety harness by disallowing them to be able to justify or understand. They are brought into the world of the characters as they too lose grip of the reality. The viewer is offered insights into the possible reasons for the madness or at least they observe as it grows. Ian Nathan writes in his review about the scene between Jack and the previous caretaker, Delbert Grady (Phillip Stone), Torrance's visitation states "You have always been the caretaker," Grady suggests menacingly. The evil may have always been there in Jack, The Overlook merely awakened it. (Nathan: 2007).
Figure 3 - Jack's Mind

This plays on a subconscious fear of the hidden depths of the self; does evil grow from nothing or is it in everyone, waiting for a trigger? Gradys statement makes the already partly unhinged Jack question himself, he knows what the caretaker did so this suggests that to him that it has always been his destiny to come to this hotel and his destiny to axe his family to pieces. Kubrick draws on all things uncanny to create this thriller and never allows the audience to tie up the piece even though they are given a lot of thread. Every element of the film is designed to distort, disturb and confuse and build this endless feeling of the uncanny as nothing is sacred or safe. The ambiguity creates a consent danger that becomes all to plausible resulting in the unnerving thriller it is.

List of Illustrations
Fig. 1 Film Poster (1980) From: The Shining Directed by: Stanley Kubrick. [Film Poster] USA: Warner Bros. Pictures Fig. 2 Haunting Twins (1980) From: The Shining Directed by: Stanley Kubrick. [Film Still] USA: Warner Bros. Pictures Fig. 3 Jacks Mind (1980) From: The Shining Directed by: Stanley Kubrick. [Film Still] USA: Warner Bros. Pictures

Bibliography
Nathan, Ian (2007) The Shining (1980) reviewed for Empire Magazine [online] http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=132700 Ebert, Roger (2006) The Shining (1980) reviewed for The Sun Times [online] http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060618/REVIEWS08/606180302 Berardinelli, James (2006) The Shining (1980) reviewed for Reel Views.net [online] http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1482