Review #508: 'The Shining' (1980)

Stanley Kubrick's films are consistent in creating indelible images; from the sexualised bare foot, being caressed in the title sequence of Lolita (1962); the ominous sight of the black obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); or the mechanical device holding Alex's "glazies" open in A Clockwork Orange (1974), his utter devotion to the image, its composition, complexity, and depth of meaning, leave his films plastered on your memory (Kubrick began his career as a still photographer for Look Magazine in New York). 1980's The Shining left the spectator with some of the most iconic and memorably haunting images in horror cinema (and in general cinema); the Grady girls, serene but disturbing, standing in the hallways of the Overlook Hotel; the blood gushing from the opening in the lifts doors; or Jack's face starring penetratingly through the axe-damaged door announcing, "Here's Johnny!" amongst other memorable imagery. Kubrick's meticulous approach to cinema, in all of it's forms, not only gave the world beautifully constructed images, but he also explored his subjects with such masterful detail, that his body of work reveals further complexity on repeat viewings - quite a unique ability.

Kubrick has a capacity to take a genre (previously a science fiction film in 2001..., a black comedy in Dr Strangelove... (1964), or historical epic in Spartacus (1960)) and strip it of it's overt conventions. Kubrick took a conventional ghost story, with all the visual trappings of the genre, and created a psychologically complex and enigmatic cinematic experience. Stephen King's novel of The Shining (published in 1977), is explicitly mystical in it's approach; for example, topiary animals within the grounds of the hotel come to life to chase characters. The film hides its secrets. What we do know within the film's space is that Danny (Danny Lloyd) - the young son of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), who has taken a job at the Overlook hotel, - has some extra sensory power, referred to by Scatman Crothers' Dick Hallorann as 'The Shining' (which is more explicitly explored in the longer US version - something I will come back to). It is eluded to when the Torrance family are shown the grounds of the hotel in the "Closing Day" sequence, that the hotel was built on ancient Indian burial ground, but never really expressly developed further, and also one incident involves supernatural intervention, but is an inescapable plot point.

Kubrick expressed an interested in the subject of ESP and the paranormal, specifically in psychic ability, in an interview with Michel Ciment, and it is this aspect of the story that creates the films many ambiguities. Is it specifically a "haunted" house, or are the psychic abilities of Danny (and possibly Jack?) creating psychic chaos, the rupturing of historic trauma? At the start of the film Jack is interviewed by the manager of the hotel (Stuart Ullman), and he is informed of an horrific event that occurred some years ago. The Grady family were hacked to death by the father/husband Delbert (Philip Stone), who had previously occupied the halls of the hotel, in the same employment position. Jack informs that his wife (Shelley Duvall) would be delighted with this history, being a "confirmed horror addict". Perhaps an apparition of Grady appears to Jack (he only sees "ghosts" when he is facing mirrors), to inform him of his families dysfunction. Is this a ghostly manifestation of the former janitor? A psychic memory brought on by Jack's own extra sensory ability? Or has isolation (or even cabin fever) gripped the increasingly anguished, and frustrated writer ("All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"), and his own reflection has become a psychological transference of an historical narrative about the hotel? 

The Shining has that Kubrickian sense of ambiguity and imagistic beauty. Along with the beautifully composed shots, the camera itself becomes a haunting, and hypnotic character in the film. The Shining was one of the first films to utilise the recently invented Steadycam (Kubrick of course, went for the source and employed the inventor, Garrett Brown, to operate the camera), which gave the almost constantly moving camera, gliding through the labyrinthine corridors of the hotel. Another indelible image came from this (a now commonplace technique), the camera at a low level, following Danny on his tricycle, moving over wood and carpet, creating an in-camera sound that serendipitously produces impending horror, it's rhythmic pattern evoking fear - we are waiting for those Grady girls around every corner Danny takes.

The use of sound is always an important inclusion to a Kubrick production, and the most important part of this is music. Kubrick is the master of marrying music and image. He worked with composer Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind, and they contributed the main theme, but much of the music was recorded from composite parts of musical pieces by the like of Ligeti and Bela Bartok. The layering of these esoteric compositions, creates throughout the film, absolute terror. The nerve-inducing strings shrill and scream in opposing juxtapositions, and the power of the sound, music and image are elevated when unified. This beautiful combination has led to the film being often cited as one of the greatest "scary" films of all time (Martin Scorsese named it one of his top 11 scary films). The author of the source novel, however, was not happy with the changes made to the narrative, and subsequently all of film and television adaptations of his work, were subject to his control. 

I was surprised to discover only around a month ago, that the version that I grew up with, and was released in Europe, was shorter than the US release. In fact a whole 30 minutes was absent. So I did watch the US version (as well as the "UK" edit), but found it to simply include some rather long scenes, largely dealing with unnecessary exposition involving Danny's relationship with "the boy who lives in my mouth" as he refers to his abilities, and with Jack's recent move to cold turkey after a drunken incident which resulted in violence towards his son. All of this exposition is not at all needed, as they are revealed more implicitly in later scenes. It was after the release in North America that Kubrick was aware that the film was not successful. Therefore, Kubrick re-edited the film, and released it to other territories in the shorter version. This was Kubrick's preferred version, and I have to agree with him. It is a far tighter film, and devolves a few overtly "ghostly" images, including a silly dinner scene with skeletal guests that Duvall sees towards the climax of the film.

The Shining is for me, one of the top five horror films of all time. It's mysteries, ambiguities and atmosphere culminates in a film that is genuinely terrifying. The experience of fright, horror, and fear is exacerbated on repeat viewings. This was the first time in many years that I watched it, and I was scared more than ever before. It's a richness of cinema that makes Kubrick the absolute master of every subject, any genre, and possibly everything that he touched. The very nature of the hypnotic stylistics of this film would leave me to associate it's mesmeric pace, and the camera's ability to hold its subject for long moments, with David Lynch's debut feature film Eraserhead (1977), which was an even more surreal inclusion to the horror genre. I have read that Kubrick saw the film, and was impressed, and The Shining was his next film. I believe Eraserhead could have been an influence - but this is speculation of course. With or without any conjecture of influence, The Shining is an incredibly rich cinematic experience, and has been furnished with many varying and interesting theories. The films ambiguities will be the subject of debate long after we all have disappeared, and that enduring quality means, for me at least, that Kubrick was (and is) the greatest filmmaker to possibly ever work in the medium.


Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Country: UK/USA

Rating: *****

Marc Ivamy