The Shining

A Stanley Kubrick film

Viewers always want to see a horror movie that is not only screams and deaths, but also
presents a story and an interesting context, so we get to see the movie "The Shining",
based on the novel by Stephen King. It is a film directed by Stanley Kubrick, director of
films such as A Clockwork Orange, 2001 Space Odyssey, Lolita, Spartacus which we can find
in his filmography.Released on May 23, 1980, The Shining is a horror/mystery starring Jack
Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and others. For the shooting of this film several
recording sets were created at EMI (Elstree Studios in Borehamwood) in the UK and to
record the exterior of the hotel a huge recreation of it was made.

The film tells the story of Jack Torrance (played

by Jack Nicholson) who becomes the caretaker
during the winter period of the overlook hotel
located in Colorado and goes there with the
illusion of overcoming his block with writing. He
goes there with his wife Wendy (played by Shelley
Duvall) and son Danny (played by Danny Lloyd)
who has psychic premonitions. Jack's writing
does not evolve and the visions that Danny has
become more disturbing because he has them
often, on the other hand, Jack discovers the dark
secrets hidden in the hotel and begins to
become a homicidal maniac and takes it upon
This film had a budget of $19 million and grossed $44
million at the U.S. box office. On the other hand, the
himself to terrorize his family.
European version lasts 119 minutes, while the American
version lasts 144 minutes. The shooting of the film had ups
and downs due to Kubrick's demands on the actors. Jack
Nicholson was the first choice to play the role, although
Robert De Niro, Robin Williams and Harrison Ford were
among the other options. Although Kubrick was the director
of the film, Stephen King was the one making the casting
and photography decisions, so when Kubrick showed him
the performer of the title character (Jack Nicholson),
Stephen quickly agreed. In my opinion, the choice of Jack
Nicholson to play the title character was the right one
because his performance was so well done that the actor
managed to make one feel uncomfortable, scared and
nervous while watching the film despite the successive
script changes.
The shooting of the film was quite hard and difficult for the
actors because of Kubrick's meticulousness. As a result,
long days of recording, and changes were constantly
added to the script. Actress Shelley Duvall worked
throughout the film under a great wave of stress and
anxiety which seriously affected her health, even suffering
hair loss. On the other hand, Jack Nicholson was frustrated
because the new script was changed five minutes before
filming the scenes.
Finally, my opinion based on the film, it is quite
good although Kubrick took a lot of creative
liberties since I did not follow the story as it
was in the book but still ended up being an
excellent film with good directions,
performances, editing and soundtrack that I
personally find that dazzled in this film.
The film's soundtrack also stood out. It was
based on classical music, with the help of
composer, music engineer and musician
Walter Carlos to adapt the music of Henry
Purcell, Beethoven and Rossini, and with the
help of György Ligeti and Polish composer
Krzysztof Penderecki, who wrote six
compositions for the film.
Finally, the costumes for the film were
directed by Milena Canonero, who had
worked with Kubrick before on films such as A
Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.What
Milena tries to transmit through her
costumes is her taste for detail with
garments full of symbolism and color as a
way to express and show the psychology of
the characters and their personalities.