Terrific haunted house story is not as scary as it once was

Rating: 9/10 (16 March 2020)

I recently rewatched "The Shining" on the big screen at a revival showing and was struck by how it has aged and now only seems mildly frightening. I remember being terrified of the twins, the elevators of blood, and Jack in the hedge maze. Still, even though the film has lost some of its scare factor, "The Shining" is a fabulous piece of cinema. I won't bother summarizing the plot, because this is a film everyone has seen and if you haven't watch it NOW. Masterfully directed by Stanley Kubrick, his use of the Steadicam gives the film a dreamlike quality, floating though the empty hotel hallways and hedge mazes, which beautifully compliments the film's supernatural story. This was a new technique at the time and it still stands out as one of my best uses of this technology (Scorceses use of it in "Goodfellas" is probably the other standout). Although not as edge of your seat as contemporary horror films (Mike Flanagan's "The Haunting of Hill House" is an excellent example of a film that manages to be both scary and intelligent, which "The Shining" was in it's day), but Kubrick's film does maintain a wonderfully creepy atmosphere. The photography by John Alcott ("Barry Lyndon" "A Clockwork Orange" "The Beastmaster") is as gorgeous. It's interesting to note that this is a haunted house story shot on brightly sunlight sets, compared to the typical dark-and-stormy-night setting of most horror films. Roy Walker's production design and Leslie Tompkins art direction are both beautiful and terrifying in their starkness. No review of "The Shining" would be complete without mentioning Kubrick's masterful selection of music for the film. Wendy Carlos provided a few pieces, but a majority of the frightening music were compositions that, believe it or not, already existed. This film introduced me to György Ligeti, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Béla Bartók. Kurbrik brilliantly places the music into the film to a highly effective degree. Thematically, there are many theories on what the film is about (see the hilarious documentary "Room 237" for some outrageous theories, though that film is less about the dissecting "The Shining" and is more about how people get sucked into conspiracy theories and look to make order, seeking out patters and connections where they don't actually exist), but what the story of "The Shining" really boils down to is the horrors and challenges family, parenting, and marriage. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Jack is having a midlife crisis. He wants to be a writer, but he now has responsibilities, a wife and a child who he increasingly beings to view as getting in the way of his life. He even tells Loyd, the ghostly bartender, at one point that he's losing who he is. From Wendy's perspective, Jack doesn't appreciate her cheerfully running the house and Wendy begins to lose her own mind over this as well, while poor Danny is caught in the middle. Looking for an escape from his responsibilities, Jack begins drinking again (he's a recovering alcoholic) and is even tempted by another woman at one point. Minus all the supernatural elements, this really is a domestic drama. This all was more at the forefront of King's book, which got watered down somewhat for the film version since Nicholson goes crazy pretty much right off that bat, which is a negative point on the film and was the crux of King's outspoken criticism of the film. King much preferred the TV-mini series version directed by Mick Garris and with Steven Weber as Jack Torrance. That version is much closer to the book and the highly identifiable Weber much better conveys King's focus on the horror of seeing your very ordinary father wrestle with his demons versus the very unordinary Nicholoson (no one's dad is like Jack Nicholson), but the TV-mini series is nowhere as cinematic as Kubrick's big screen opus. Overall, "The Shining" remains a classic, but it is a film that has lost some of its sparkle over the years, mostly likely due to it being endlessly copied, which consequentially leaves the film feel somewhat stale by comparison. Irregardless, it remains a compelling and visually stunning film to behold.