Cold, chilling brilliance

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2014)

It's been well documented that Stephen King wasn't very happy with Stanley Kubrick on account of how he adapted his novel The Shining to the screen. I myself haven't actually read the King book but I am a big admirer of the Kubrick film. But it does appear that this movie is one that divides opinion like few other horror films. While there are many like me who love it, there are equally many others who find it unscary and unengaging. Not only that but, somewhat bizarrely, it seems to have also attracted a lot of conspiracy theories surrounding supposed hidden messages and subtexts buried within the film. If you don't believe this, watch the recent documentary Room 237 which presents several of these, in my opinion, utterly stupid theories. Basically, there seems to be little middle ground when it comes to opinions on The Shining.
I can only speak from the point-of-view of someone who thinks this is a bit of a masterpiece. Kubrick was a director who seemed to make films in different genres that still retained his very personal stamp. In this example I think he shows that the horror genre was pretty well suited to his sensibilities. The cold detachment his films are famous for works really well for this particular story. The setting is a remote isolated hotel in the middle of winter after all. His meticulous attention to detail is evident from the first beautiful soaring shot over a cold lake right until the final extreme zoom. Visually the movie is a tour de force. This was one of the first films to use the Steadicam, which allowed for very smooth mobile camera-work, most notably when we glide through the corridors of the hotel following the boy Danny on his trike. The horror genre also gives Kubrick ample opportunity to construct nightmare-like imagery such as the river of blood that flows out of the lift shaft. But it's the atmosphere that really makes it all work. There are several standout suspense scenes, like the famous axe moment and the ghostly little girls but also others such as the very disturbing encounter in Room 237. Then there is the hotel bar that Jack Torrance visits in moments of despair, replete with swinging 1920's guests. From here we have one of the standout sinister parts of the whole movie, where Torrance has a conversation with the ex-caretaker (and very dead) Grady in the toilet. The conversation is cold and disturbing and sets the wheels in motion for the final horror. Sometimes, though it's the very simple, subtle ideas that generate the biggest chills, such as when Wendy discovers just exactly what it is that her husband has been spending his whole time writing since arrival.
The cast is small but excellent. Jack Nicholson is admittedly very over-the-top but he is pretty convincingly intense, Shelley Duvall is very good in a tough role, young Danny Lloyd is one of the rare breed of child actors who can actually act and Scatman Crothers, who plays the cook who recognises Danny's shining ability, is always a welcome presence in any film. But really, the real standout character of this film is the Overlook Hotel itself. Everything happens under its bright lights, there is no typical horror darkness here but this only adds to the terror if anything. It's a place that seems to hold a secret and its vast empty expanses become somewhat sinister once the guests and workers have finally left. Wendy Carlos unusual score accentuates this by punctuating certain moments with tones that imply impending dread. On the whole, The Shining is a movie that doesn't really have any faults for me. It's an immaculately constructed horror movie.