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| The Shining (1980) |
Like I said, I've seen a lot of things draw inspiration from The Shining. Last year, when I saw Ready Player One, there was an entire sequence dedicated to the movie. The movie has also been parodied and paid homage to by a number of properties. There's an episode of Psych almost entirely built around The Shining, and I remember liking it, though I imagine I'll appreciate it much more now that I've seen the movie it was based on. But, by far, the most famous Shining parody is 'The Shinning', from Treehouse of Horror V in The Simpsons. I've always loved that sequence, but looking back on it, I'm impressed by how accurate they were. There are little things I thought wouldn't connect that much or were just there because it's the Simpsons that were actually very relevant to the original movie. Anyway, back on track, the point I'm trying to make is that despite all the exposure I've had to this movie prior to seeing it, I was impressed by how much the movie still managed to surprise me. Looking back, I basically already knew what was going to happen and how the movie was going to end, but in the moment I was too engrossed to even think about those things that I'd heard about from other sources. That bodes well for the re-watchability of this movie, and I imagine it'll just get better and better every time I watch it.
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| Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance |
For a first watch, it can be confusing at times. This is all by design of course, and this is probably the first movie I've seen where I didn't have all the answers by the end and, really, didn't want them. I'm almost glad things are left ambiguous, as fear of the unknown is always scarier than fear of the known. And this film can get scary. But it's scary in the way that I actually adore where it's not 'jump in your seat' scary or even too psychologically scary. It certainly is psychologically scary, but that's not the main hook to the scare factor here. It's more about being unsettling. Basically the entire build up to the last act is just creepy and off-putting more than it is downright frightening. And I like that. The most important part of any horror movie is the build, and this movie nails that aspect. I really like how Jack Torrance isn't portrayed as an everyday nice guy, really, at all, and even he's a little unsettling right from the word go. Not so much as to make you think he's in on it, but enough where his descent into madness feels entirely justified when it happens. And, let me tell you, when it happens? It is terrifying. Again, I was never wriggling in my seat, or jumping at things that happened out of nowhere. I don't think a single sound escaped my lips as it was happening. No screams, no murmurs, not even a whimper. Absolutely nothing. That's how you know you did your job right. Not all horror movies need to go for the screams. This is tension. This is suspense. This is horror.
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| Shelley Duvall as Wendy |
The main cast do a wonderful job in these roles. It's my understanding that Kubrick didn't really make the on-set environment too pleasant for the actors, and if these are the performances that were gained from that, I would say that tactic 100% paid off. Jack Nicholson is utterly perfect as Torrance, and he absolutely steals every scene he's in. I touched on this earlier, but one of the best things about his descent is that it never feels like too big a drop. You get the sense that this psycho was always hidden within Jack, and the hotel didn't have to do much to bring it out. I made a similar comparison with another one of Nicholson's characters: the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman. What's great about this, though, is how dissimilar the two characters are in almost every other sense of the word. There are a few similarities here and there, but the two characters really feel different even though on paper they're pretty identical. A testament to Nicholson's acting if ever there was one. Shelley Duvall was also great as Wendy, and she's easily the most real, normal and collected character in the main cast. What's great about this, though, is despite this, we can still clearly see the impact the hotel has on her over the course of the movie. It's a little subtle, but it's there. It's like the hotel is making her more nervous and jumpy to ripen her up for the kill, as it were, and Duvall gets this across wonderfully. The real surprise here was Danny Lloyd. There were a couple of moments that crossed over into 'typical child acting' territory, but for the character he was, Lloyd was excellent as Danny. He was almost more impressive as Tony than he was at Danny, but he's fantastic across the board, and for expecting the worst going in, that's quite the feat.
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| Danny Lloyd as Danny |
But let's address the best thing about this movie: the directing. Like with all classic movies I review, I'm sure everything I'm about to say has already been said a thousand times before, but do bear with me if I retread old territory as I'm just giving you my review here. I love Kubrick's use of long shots, in that one shot will follow the characters and continue for longer than you'd expect. This is something you rarely see in modern movies, let alone modern horrors, and it's well-utilised here. When the shot continues for so long, especially in shots where it's just people walking around the hotel, you're expecting the shot to end with something scary, as it seems like it's building to something. Oftentimes, nothing will come of it, but the tactic alone is enough to build the fear factor. In fact, the movie does this constantly. Not just the long shots tactic, but it loves to f*** with the audiences expectations to heighten the tension. All over this movie, inappropriate music plays for the scene it's playing for. Big, high energy string music normally used in horror chase scenes will play when a character's just walking through the hallways, for example, and I've always loved that tactic. When your auditory expectations are subverted, you not only get unsettled by whatever's happening, but it also pulls you into the experience more. The thing that really got to me, though, is how several scenes in the first half of the movie feel like they ended earlier than they should have, without a real ending. This got on my nerves initially, until I realised that was the point. To irritate the viewer and almost get them on the same level as Jack, or at least to help unsettle them. Techniques like that really help elevate the story being told into something special, and I really don't think another director would have been able to do it nearly as well as Kubrick did. One film in, and I'm already a huge fan of this guy.
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| Scatman Crothers as Hallorann |
It's like this: The Shining (1980) is just a brilliant movie, and is easily one of the best horrors I've seen, though that would also stem from my limited experience with the horror genre in general. So, one of the best films I've ever seen period? Perhaps. Time, and future reviews, will tell. 10/10.
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