All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy..

Rating: 10/10 (18 June 2017)

...So declares one of the most notorious scenes in The Shining, the definitive psychological horror film and arguably the movie that has spawned the most conspiracy theories of any genre. It's easy to see why this appeals to people; The Shining is almost confounding in all of its enigmas. Virtually all of the theories surrounding it will never be confirmed, and that might just be the point of why it's so unnerving. Nothing makes any true sense, and the end of the movie leaves us with more questions than answers. The ambiguity of this movie is part of what makes it so genius. It can be viewed as a psychoanalytic profile of a mentally ill man and his schizophrenic son, or if you're more of a classic horror fan, you can believe that malevolent ghosts caused a family to be torn apart. Kubrick excellently presents the implausible in a way to where we are forced to accept it. Initial reviews lamented the film for not being scary enough, and the Shining isn't so much pee-in-your-pants terrifying as subtly unnerving. In fact, the more gory interludes are the parts where the film rings false. The movie is most haunting when nothing really seems out of the ordinary; it triggers a subconscious, evolutionary type of fear that happens when you feel a breeze on the back of your neck while you're home alone. The perceived harm that could be enacted by the apparitions in the Overlook Hotel can only cause damage if you let them; Jack eagerly accepts this paranormal manifestation because it is immediate almost from the start that he seems to resent his family. He is verbally abusive to Wendy and we already know that he has harmed Danny. After giving up alcoholism, Jack resorts to stoking his maniacal fantasies, provoked by the Overlook, to turn to evil. The ability to make conscious decisions is uncertain, as a theme of unchangeable destiny is present with that chilling (no pun intended) ending and the mysterious origins of Grady and his assertive quote that Jack has "always been the caretaker". Has Jack's spirit always been with the hotel, or is he experiencing delusions brought upon by his dissatisfaction with his domestic life?
One interesting thing I realized is that The Shining avidly rejects the concept of a nuclear family. Jack is unhappy with Wendy, and it is heavily implied that their sex life is nonexistent, leading him to be seduced by the woman in the bathtub. He views Wendy as taking away his freedom, and he longs to be able to engage in hedonism and not fret about providing for his family ("all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"), prompting him to incite "taking care of them" like Grady says he did to his family. It presents an interesting cynicism of traditional family that is furthered by the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of Wendy and Danny.
Kubrick uses dichotomy as the main way to achieve uneasiness. The Overlook Hotel leaves the Torrance family isolated from the rest of the world, yet its cavernous size provides a horrifying maze where anything could be lurking around the corner. The most obvious duality is reality versus fantasy, and how to differentiate them. Fascinatingly enough, there's also a blurring of past and present. Jack proclaims that he had an overpowering sense of deja vu when he entered the Overlook, and we're led to believe by the ending that he was always at the Overlook...but the character Grady, while seemingly supporting this theory, does not go by Charles as the caretaker that went mad in the exposition of the movie did, but Delbert. This anomaly produces a new theory that the Overlook projects personas that are similar to their counterparts in the normal universe. These personas are similar enough that you feel companionship with them, but dissimilar enough to tempt you into joining them. This can be demonstrated with Tony, the medium through which Danny conjures up his shining. Tony seems like a completely different entity, but the strongest piece of evidence to indicate that he is a reflection of Tony is the fact that Danny's middle name is Anthony (despite only being mentioned in the novel). These dichotomies create an overpowering sense of unknowing and tension caused by the dread of uncertainty. The Shining utilizes this technique to create an eerie game of cat and mouse, that in my opinion, lasts throughout the entire movie. Kubrick's dedication to adhering to all of the aforementioned themes succeed in creating a deeply unsettling and horrifying experience that constitutes one of the greatest movies of all time. 10/10