The Shining (1980)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Released June 13, 1980

Novel Written by Stephen King

 Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick & Diane Johnson

Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB

"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."

After a much needed break, I am back again with more 80s movie blogs! This new list of movies is a mix of movies that I have seen and some that I haven't. Since these are not my top 80s movies, chances are I am going to be critiquing them harder. So let's get started.

This is only my second time viewing The Shining. Part of this is because I normally am not a fan of horror/thriller movies. While I have gotten more accustom to thrillers, especially psychological thrillers, they are normally not my go to movie. Now, on IMDB, this movie is listed as a drama and horror movie, but to me, I think it is more of a psychological thriller. Yes, it does have all the elements of a horror movie: suspenseful music, very deliberate color palette, unusable camera angles, chase scenes, a killer, and many other staples of a horror movie. But to me it is not a horror movie. Not to get specific, but we only saw one person die in this movie. Everyone else is either already dead or we only hear about their death. Generally, when you tell me we are watching a horror movie there are more people dying from a killer. But that is just how I see horror movies.

Playing devil's advocate, this movie was made in 1980, which means horror movies were not what they are now. There wasn't massive killings, large numbers of people dying, and tons of fake blood. So I guess to the standard of older movies, it can be considered a horror. But if I can sit through it (as a person who hates horror/scary movies) then it is not a true horror movie.

The other reason I see this movie as more of a psychological thriller is because the people in here are clearly messed up in the head. Take Jack Nicholson for example, he is a creepy looking guy even when he is not is psycho killer mode. The very first scene we see him in, where he is interviewing, he has this creepy grin on his face and everything he says seems like he is lying through his teeth. Then once he starts going crazy it just heightens his physical appearance with his mental instability. If this was a true horror movie, his character would be evil from the start with no reason for killing people. But over the course of the movie, we see him slowly going crazy. Whether it is because of cabin fever or because that house really is possessed by an evil spirit is hard to say, but regardless he is not mentally sane. So his actions are not because he is a killer, but because he is not mentally stable. Which the reasoning for his instability is one of the main factors in a psychological thriller. Some unnatural thing is taking place and you can't really explain it.

Then his son is also not normal. Now this kid was messed up even before they went to live in the hotel, so after his experience in the hotel, this kid is going to be scarred forever. Now, I am not a psychologist, but to me it seems like he has some kind of personality disorder. He has an imaginary friend, which is fine, but the friend talks through Danny's finger, the kid sees strange images from the past, talks/mumbles to himself ("Redrum"), and just looks all together disturbed all the time. Most of that, to me, seems like he is living with two different personalities. Especially, towards the end of the movie when Tony takes over Danny's body. Which by the way, if his "imaginary friend" is a boy that lives in his mouth, then why does he only talk when Danny uses his finger? Is he living in this finger too? 

Anyways, long story short, I feel bad for Wendy because both her husband and child have issues and she is the only one who is "normal." Even though she creeps me out too.

Now before I get into more cinematic topics, let's talk about a dated practice that appears in this movie. I am talking about how a doctor came to their home the first time Danny had a mental freakout. That almost never happens now-a-days. People have to go make an appointment and go to a Doctor's office if they have a problem. You never see a Doctor make house calls anymore, people don't normally let strangers come into their homes like that anymore. It is just not a common practice, which is one reason it is cool to see how people used to do things only a few decades ago.

Okay, now getting a little more technical here, let's talk about some visual aspects of this movie. The main thing that I noticed over and over again is the use of the wide shot and the tracking shot. These shots are used throughout the whole movie. Especially, when the characters are walking through the large open rooms. Having the camera stay wide creates the feeling of being in a large open space all by yourself. It adds tension and makes you realize how alone these people are in this hotel, which adds to the tension of the movie. Then, on top of the wide shots, we also see these shots tracking the characters as they walk around. What I mean is that there are no cuts of different shots edited together in a sequence, it is one continuous shot that is following the character through the room. Having long continuous tracking shots adds to the tension because our brains are used to shots changing every 3-4 seconds, so when that doesn't happen we get restless and we are waiting for something to happen. One of the best examples of this is when Danny is riding his bike through the hotel. It is one shot from behind Danny that doesn't end. The fact that this is also shot from behind Danny also adds tension because we can't see what is in front of him or if anything is going to jump out at Danny. Then when something finally does happen, we are just as surprised as Danny is because we are seeing things from the same angle that he is.

Another technical component in this movie is the transitions. Kubrick uses a lot of dissolves between scenes. This is important for two different reasons. One, because most of the time in movies you use a dissolve to show a passing of time or to go into/out of a dream/memory sequence. Using it as just a way to go from one scene or shot to the other is strange and jarring. The other reason why this transition leaves such an impact, is because they are long dissolves. Dissolves often happen for only a few frames which is less than a second to the viewer. But these dissolves lingered and caused the previous shot to bleed into the next. This effect leaves the scenes feeling creepier than if Kubrick had just cut from one scene to the next. It allows the last line or movement that a character makes settle longer than normal before you are taken into a new scene.

The last element of the cinematic choices I want to talk about is the title sequences. These were actually really clever in terms of getting the viewer into the psychological mindset of the characters. At the beginning it starts with "The Interview" then eventually it turns into a month, then a day, and finally a time. By doing this, Kubrick is demonstrating how being stuck in the middle of nowhere causes you to start to lose sight of what month, day, or even time it is. One day just flows into the next and you have no sense of time passing. 

Now I have talked a lot and I want to leave you with one last comment. This scene, proves how strong of an actor Jack Nicholson is. It is not just enough for him to say weird things and put on a creepy smile. He is using his hands, his tong, his chest, and his voice in a way that freaks you out. Along with the camera angles that are used, you feel like he is coming for you and is coming straight out the TV. That is because they often use a frontal view of him to make it feel like he is talking directly to the viewer. He fully embodied the character and that is something that not every actor can do on a believable level.

Jack Torrance: "Mr. Grady, you were the caretaker here."

Delbert Grady: "I'm sorry to differ with you sir, but you are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker. I should know sir. I've always been here."