Brief Summary/Analysis of The Shining

Rating: 10/10 (2 May 2015)

This film is about a family that decides to look after a hotel for the off season in Colorado Mountains. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is looking to finish a book and feels the solitude of hotel will help him do so. His wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) accompany him on this trip. While there they experience delusions of the people who have been there in the past. Jack eventually goes completely mad as does his son. Wendy tries to get herself and Danny away from Jack who eventually throughout the film loses his mind completely.
The theme in this film is mainly emotional effect or mood focus. This film is scary from start the finish. Once the family arrives at the hotel for the off season, we start to see a change in Jack's behavior and even Danny's. Wendy reminds the same pretty much throughout the film, but does have a few episodes of hallucinations towards end once Jack has completely lost his mind. Jack and Danny's emotions and mood throughout the film really play into the creepiness and intensity of the story. Jack, we see him in the beginning as a stable guy just looking for a job. As soon as their stay begins at the hotel, his demeanor and actions start changing quickly as his delusions take over and by the end he is completely insane. Danny same thing, he gets hints from his imagery friend Tony to not go to the hotel and that something bad will happen, but obviously his parents don't take him or what Tony said seriously. When Danny arrives at hotel, his delusions and mental state starts to go quickly as well. He sees the two girls that were previously murdered by their father (Mr. Grady) and he also sees a wave of blood fill a hallway of the hotel on several times.
The title is significant in this movie. We find out from the head Chef Mr. Hollorann (Scatman Crothers) that "Shining" is a way of hearing people's thoughts. He spoke of having the ability himself while talking with Danny over ice-cream. Danny at this point isn't sure what to think, he knows he has the ability to hear people's thoughts (ex: when Jack kills Mr. Hollorann, Danny sees his Dad doing this act. Danny was in a different part of the hotel at the time of the murder). This was a good choice for the title. Jack Wendy and Danny all struggle at one point with reality and delusions.
The camera angles throughout the film are great at capturing the emotions of each character. This also adds to the creepiness as Jack begins to descend into madness. The scene where Wendy is questioning Jack about what happened when Danny went into room 237. The camera is moving and go back and forth from Jack to Wendy. Each time we see Jack his face looks more psychotic and angry. At this point, Wendy notices he's losing his mind and needs to figure out a way to leave. Another great angle was when he axed his way into the bathroom and his head pops through the hole in the door and we hear the infamous words "HERE'S JOHNNY". The bright lighting and scary musical effects in this scene also add to the terrifying intensity of that scene. An example when Jack is searching for Danny in the maze, its snowy out and the lighting is very hazy. It adds intensity to this scene, whether or not Danny can escape the maze without being caught by his deranged father, we hear Jack yelling for Danny with faint intense music in the background. The next morning we find Jack frozen in the snow. The lighting in this scene is bright and as the camera angles towards Jack face we see that he froze to death (although I always think his eyes will pop up or jump up out of the snow bank).
Another Stephen King novel turned film, is IT. This movie about a Clown that takes over the minds of a group of young children. Like The Shining plays into the minds of people who end becoming delusional and doing things to harm themselves or others. It seems to be a theme with a lot of Stephen King novels. Playing into the characters psyche and the audiences' is a great way to introduce fear into the mind.
In conclusion, The Shining is a great classic horror film, even to this day almost 30 some odd years later scaring those who have seen it once or several times. This film does a great job at making you question the human psyche and what solitude can do to a person. This film has great editing, lighting, camera angles and sound/music effects that really capture the true horror Jack, Wendy, and Danny experienced at their stay at the Overlook Hotel.