What is this picture about?
“The Shining” is a 1980 horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick in collaboration with novelist Diane Johnson. The film is an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1977 novel of the same name and stars Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Scatman Crothers. The story follows Jack Torrance (played by Nicholson), a teacher who decides to earn some extra money by taking a job as the winter caretaker of a remote hotel.
Jack sees this seclusion and distance from civilization as an opportunity to write his own book. Despite being warned by his employers about the hotel’s violent past, including terrible murders, Jack is undeterred. He and his family embark on this adventure in the Colorado Rockies.
Features of the picture “The Shining” (1980)
- Stephen King criticized the film for its significant plot deviation from the novel.
- Director Stanley Kubrick wanted to make a successful film after his failure of the picture “Barry Lyndon” (1975), so he spent a long time choosing a literary work for adaptation, re-reading a bunch of different junk (options were provided to the director by Stephen King himself).
- Principal photography took over a year due to Kubrick’s extremely methodical nature.
- One of the most popular scenes (in a bar) the actors rehearsed for 6 weeks, working 14 hours a day.
- The door that Jack cuts down with an ax at the end of the movie was real.
- During filming, Kubrick screened David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” (1977) for the cast and crew to convey the mood he wanted to achieve in the picture.
- The involvement of Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown in “The Shining” was significant. This revolutionary device stabilizes the camera during handheld shots, ensuring smooth footage even on uneven surfaces. “The Shining” (1980) was among the first films to embrace Steadicam technology, marking a groundbreaking advancement in cinematography. It allowed filmmakers to achieve mesmerizing effects, captivating viewers with unconventional camera angles and movements.
- The scene featuring Wendy Torrance’s backward ascent up the stairs, armed with a baseball bat, is often criticized for its exaggerated performance. Kubrick’s pursuit of perfection led to an astonishing 127 retakes, a record documented in the Guinness Book of World Records:
- Director Stanley Kubrick took special care to protect young actor Danny Lloyd during filming. Lloyd was kept under the impression that he was participating in a drama rather than a horror film. This deliberate approach aimed to shield the child from the story’s frightening elements, ensuring his emotional well-being throughout the production.
Suspense in “The Shining” (1980)
Suspense lies at the core of any horror, its foundation built on the anticipation of fear. With no standardized units to measure tension, each director or screenwriter employs their own techniques, leaving viewers to decipher signals and hints that may either slip by unnoticed or profoundly impact the fear factor.
“The Shining” is replete with visual cues hinting at the impending tragedy. Even in mundane scenes, the original framing, characterized by contrasting zones and strategic color choices, gradually escalates tension. Actors’ expressions, whether smiling or silent, contribute to the sense of impending horror.
Despite its drawn-out and occasionally tedious pace, the film manages to maintain a semblance of suspense, though perhaps not to the extent desired. Prior to crafting this review, I revisited the film twice, experiencing it anew after a twenty-year hiatus.
However, I struggle to recall moments that truly frightened or captivated me enough to warrant revisiting the film over time. “The Shining” (1980) primarily serves as a showcase for Jack Nicholson’s talents, failing to leave a lasting impression beyond his performance.
Consequently, I find it challenging to offer an objective assessment of the film’s suspenseful elements. While there is a degree of intrigue and anticipation of impending horror, shortcomings in execution and script decisions overshadow these aspects.
Casting
Almost everything about the film is great, except for one significant issue – Jack Nicholson’s portrayal. It’s a glaring problem that undermines nearly everything else.
The plot unfolds in a conventional manner, with characters transitioning from one state to another. From the first frames featuring Nicholson, the danger is palpable on his face; he lacks the poised calmness needed to establish a compelling contrast as he transforms into a merciless killer.
Just observe his smile as he converses with his employer before the trip; it exudes madness! It feels like we’re simply waiting for him to snap. Let’s contemplate the other actors who were considered for the role of Jack Torrance during casting. Nicholson was Stanley Kubrick’s first choice, but names like Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford, Kris Kristofferson, Jon Voight, Michael Moriarty, and Martin Sheen were also mentioned.
Stephen King himself expressed concerns about Nicholson’s casting, believing that audiences already associated him with unstable characters, making it challenging to perceive him as ordinary and stable initially. Personally, I share this sentiment and believe that Kris Kristofferson or Robin Williams would have been better suited for the role. Their style and appearance lend themselves more favorably to showcasing the necessary contrasts.
However, Kubrick was adamant about his choice, stating that the actor for the main role “is not subject to discussion.” While I have no qualms about Nicholson’s performance itself, I still believe that other actors could have brought a different dynamic to the character.
Regarding the other actors, their performances are commendable, and it’s evident that Kubrick wouldn’t have settled for subpar acting in the final cut. He meticulously crafted every aspect of the film to perfection.
Cropping
It appears that the film was originally shot in a classic camera format (1.37:1), resulting in an output ratio of 1.85:1. As a result, film prints distributed to cinemas in the United States and Europe showcased “The Shining” (1980) in a 1.66:1 format, which left audiences impressed.
Subsequently, DVD and VHS releases, following Stanley Kubrick’s specifications, presented the film in an aspect ratio of 4:3 (1.33:1), akin to the original film format. This allowed for a richer viewing experience, although in mass Blu-Ray releases, the 16:9 ratio is typically utilized.
Сompare the two identical frames below:
Upon viewing “The Shining,” I was struck by the differences between the two formats mentioned earlier. I can confidently assert that the 16:9 format offers more vibrant colors and heightened tension. The “square” frame of the 4:3 ratio feels somewhat diminished, lacking the effectiveness and fear-inducing quality of its wider counterpart.
The script of ‘The Shining’ (1980)
The screenplay was penned by the director himself in collaboration with novelist Diane Johnson. Kubrick dismissed Stephen King’s original draft as being too faithful to the novel.
Discussing the film’s theme, Kubrick remarked that “there is something wrong with the human personality. There is an evil side to this. One of the things horror stories can do is show us archetypes of the unconscious; we can see the dark side without facing it directly.”
The script underwent frequent alterations even during filming, a process that particularly frustrated Jack Nicholson.
My opinion about picture
First, I do not share the realism of the depicted events. What the hell is a huge building under the supervision of only two adults? What prevented leaving a doctor, an electrician and someone else there who would help with supervision and greatly simplify life in possible critical situations? It is difficult to imagine the depicted situation, so I constantly clung to the authority of the director with the thought “such an outstanding artist cannot do bad things, let’s watch.” Of course, you can just keep the input data in your head, not be picky, but I have no power over this condition. If I don’t like something, I can’t do anything about it.
Secondly, the explanation for the main characters’ ability to see beyond reality feels insufficiently developed. Whether it’s Danny “Doc” Torrance or his father, Jack Torrance, their visions seem to emerge without adequate justification. While the film hints at the hotel’s dark history and its construction on a Native American cemetery, these elements fail to provide a satisfactory explanation for the characters’ experiences. For me, more than half of the film feels like a jumble of disordered thoughts, lacking coherence. While there’s a warning about the recent crime and the hotel’s influence on behavior, it’s not enough to support the mysteriousness portrayed. My pragmatic mindset requires clearer explanations, which unfortunately are absent.
Viewing the film through this lens significantly distorts the experience for the worse. While the author has the right to their vision, I believe this shortcoming could have been addressed during the scriptwriting stage. Perhaps Kubrick and Diana Johnson felt they had written enough, but it didn’t resonate with me. Both screenwriters made significant changes to the original text, indicating their skepticism towards it. Kubrick’s disbelief in the afterlife further complicates matters, as he fails to adequately explain the characters’ eerie visions.
Overall, I consider the script to be the weakest aspect of the entire film.
Thirdly, extremely long scenes. This is definitely the author’s decision, his style and vision. But I don’t share that pace. I can’t say that I was bored, I was honestly looking for something in this space, but I couldn’t find anything but quality camera work. I didn’t get to watch the tension build with anticipation, because that’s what the rest of the scenes are set up for, where absolutely nothing happens. As I wrote above, the level of suspense is too low, everything is too slow in “The Shining”.
I can understand Stephen King not being satisfied with an adaptation of his work.
Fourthly, the picture lacks depth. Where exactly is the drama here? In what place? The heroes are simply absorbed by some devilishness and that’s all! Changes occur for mystical reasons, and only this leads to the movement of the plot. And it’s a bit disappointing, because I want more. I did not see in the teacher (Jack Torrens, Jack Nicholson) meek, calm (see the subtitle “Casting”), to jump in horror at his actions after the dramatic changes. I did not see a vulnerable child in the little one; on the contrary, he seemed to me the most dangerous of all. I did not enjoy the development of the plot, the ending. Total emptiness.
I felt only one of the metaphorical hooks related to indigenous people. As if this is the basis of the bad events after the hotel was built on the Indian cemetery. Is this enough to blow out this fire of genius? Not for me.
A horror movie for the sake of a horror movie.
Music
The film’s constant gloominess, ominous atmosphere, and monotonous soundtrack, devoid of cheerful melodies, adhere closely to horror genre conventions. Whether “The Shining” pioneered this style of musical accompaniment or borrowed it from other successful horror films is unclear to me, as I’m not a horror movie aficionado.
One aspect I can commend is the masterful injection of tension right from the beginning. It’s immediately evident that something terribly frightening is about to unfold. However, I found the use of the heartbeat sound somewhat overexploited. My rational mind couldn’t help but question its origins, timing, and significance. Whose heartbeat is it? Why now? Why so slow and prolonged?
A film about a writer
“The Shining” (1980) really depicts the author’s life, and one of his motivations is to finish the book:
“- The only thing that can get a bit trying here during the winter is a tremendous sense of isolation.
– That just happens to be exactly what I`m looking for. I’m outlining a new writing project. Five months of peace is just what I want.”
Writer’s block
Jack Torrence sees an opportunity to focus on his writing while being in an isolated environment. This is one of the effective ways to successfully overcome the writer’s block, but not the main one, because in a month Jack wrote absolutely nothing.
The main character admits that he has many ideas, but lacks good ones.
The wife (Wendy Torrance) rightly advises: “It’s just a matter of setting into a habit of writing every day.” And this is already the second piece of advice for authors who are trying to overcome a writer’s block.
In general, The Shining (1980) is not so much about the writer, but about the transformation of a person, about the influence of the environment, about changes, about evolution and about everything that can be found for a long time in the content-filled works of Stanley Kubrick. One way or another, the movie “The Shine” gets into my collection of movies about authors.
Overrated
I think this movie is way overrated. The meticulousness of the director, the expressive musical accompaniment, and the excellent performance of the actors save this film from complete failure.
An empty script, the absence of events for two-thirds of the running time, the crazy expression on Nicholson’s face from the very beginning – what kind of horrors are we talking about here?
Yes, it’s subjective, yes, I’ve never been scared. Yes, I was bored. But should I push this fear out of me, or should I just watch carefully and write an honest review?
Horror is not my genre at all, but I always have the option to contemplate the intention of the authors of the film. And here I see the perfect work of each of the participants, I see the colossal effort, I see the tension, but still I am not moved enough to call this film worthy of attention and a must-see.
I see no cinematic value here. Many works have much greater potential. Yes, of course I can’t call it shit, but I hardly ever want to watch it again.
Of course, I can grasp at various theories and interpretations, at the explanations of other critics, at ingenious metaphorical hints, at the extremely deep Kubrick’s style and script, but I watched “The Shining” (1980) twice in one day and it’s a movie for me doesn’t move the way I like it.
Summarize
I do not share the fascination with this work. I find it overrated and mediocre.
I have a feeling that the initial high rating is a significant factor in the formation of “own” opinion, when a person considers what he saw to be a work of genius because this film is highly rated and tries his best to find this treasure, deliberately pretending to be in love with evaporating art from the satisfaction of the inability to realize the entire genius of the artist’s work. Crowd syndrome, inertia.
There are many overrated movies that are admired because they happen to be, because tens of thousands of other people say so.
But it doesn’t work that way for me, I am honest not only with myself, but also with the reader. Why should I pry into the original idea of a director who, without a doubt, hid a lot of secrets (because this is the great Stanley Kubrick!) and communicates with me with unclouded eternal metaphors that know no time, if the viewing process made me frankly bored, if the ending disappointed me greatly , despite his mental capacity for meaningfulness?
Powerful components of the film “Shine” (1980): cinematography, acting, music. That’s all.
Want deep content? Dig, he’s definitely here, because it’s Kubrick.
Want interesting stories about why it should be scary? Read other people’s reviews.
Do you want to re-watch “The Shining” with your friend because you think he’ll freak out? Please. But for me it’s an ordinary horror movie with an extremely bad script.
Stanley Kubrick wanted to make a horror film, but it turned out to be some kind of strange intellectual drama with big holes in the disclosure and portrayal of characters.
You can watch it, but I can’t recommend it personally: it’s boring, not scary.
My rating for the movie “The Shining” (1980) is only 6 out of 10
