culture / movies

Monday Morning Movie Review: The Shining (1980)

The Portly Politico35 Comments

With the passing of Shelley Duvall earlier this month, Shudder has offered up The Shining (1980), one of the best horror films ever captured on celluloid.  Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 1977 novel—which King famously hated, until he didn’t—has been analyzed to death, but like the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel, yours portly will offer up his own humble exorcism of these now-familiar haunts.

What can be written that has not been already?  The Torrance family—Jack, Wendy, and Danny—move to the remote Overlook Hotel to serve as its winter caretakers.  Jack, struggling with alcoholism and his own sense of failure and frustration as a writer, views the job as an opportunity to write in near-total solitude during the long winter months.  Wendy, who is desperately trying to keep her marriage and family together amid the insinuation of Jack’s physical abuse of young Danny, portrays an anxious chipperness that the move will exorcise Jack’s demons.

Little Danny possesses his own psychic abilities:  a form of telepathy and premonition known as “The Shining.”  The Overlook’s head chef, Dick Hallorann, immediately recognizes this ability in Danny, and explains what the “shine” is.  He also warns Danny that the hotel itself has a “shine” of a malevolent nature, and to avoid Room 237.

The Overlook, indeed, has a dark past:  its prior caretaker, Charles Grady, murdered his wife and two daughters a decade earlier before taking his own life.  But there are other, even more sinister ghosts “shining” in the rambling hotel.

Indeed, The Overlook seems designed for maximum hauntability:  it was built on an Indian burial ground; it was a playground for the degenerate elites (as soon in the brief shot late in the film of some kind of a man engaged in some bizarre sexual act with a person in a bear costume); and the previous caretaker murder-suicided his entire family.  The place is soaked with blood, literally and metaphorically; the iconic river of blood gushing forth from the elevator is a powerful symbol of the murderous, dark history of the hotel.

And, of course, Jack slowly unravels psychologically as The Overlook weaves its dark magic, luring Jack back to alcoholism and, ultimately, to murder.

Much has been written about The Shining and what it means.  The earliest mainstream interpretations of the film argued it was a metaphor for America’s collective guilt about the conquest and subjugation of the American Indians.  That seems to be a compelling interpretation, but I’d argue it’s just one of many compelling interpretations.

Therein lies a strength—one of many, again—of the film:  it features layers upon layers.  Just like the infamous hedge maze at The Overlook, it’s easy to lose oneself in the twisting corridors of interpretation of The Shining.  The Overlook itself is, perhaps, a fitting metaphor for the film:  the layout of the hotel’s interior is impossible given its exterior dimensions.  Similarly, The Shining‘s elements create something that is more than the sum of its parts—rooms that should not fit into the whole, but do.

Even if we don’t enter into the Kubrickian labyrinth, The Shining presents a compelling narrative:  a troubled, frustrated man lashes out at the family that he believes is preventing him from achieving his dreams.  The isolation, coupled with his own sense of entitlement—Jack externalizes his personal failures, blaming his loved ones—drive him to murderous madness.  Perhaps the ghosts are real, or just figments of Jack’s deteriorating mental condition, brought on by cabin fever; regardless, they are “real” enough in that they drive him to deadly action.

That narrative is simple enough, but it’s set against the gorgeous, unsettling shots that only Kubrick could achieve, and a cast of incredible professionals bring it to life.  Kubrick’s mistreatment of Duvall on the set is legendary, and a great deal of Duvall’s hysterical breakdowns are likely real, as the actress reached her psychological limit during filming.  Duvall herself is perfectly cast; her very physical appearance in the film, even before she breaks down into screaming and tears, shouts at the viewer “this woman is frail and on the verge of a mental breakdown.”

One of King’s criticisms is that the film focuses more on Jack Torrance than Danny, the latter being the protagonist of the novel.  Danny does get somewhat lost in the shuffle here, and I have always had the nagging feeling that his character is a bit underdeveloped.  That said, he plays a critical role in the plot, as he’s able to reach out to Dick Hallorann using “The Shining.”

There is so much more to write about this incredible film:  the soundtrack, the sets, the interpretations, the characters.  This review is but my small contribution to the wealth of commentary and discussion about this film, which still invites analysis and debate forty-four years after its release.

One point we can all agree on:  The Shining features more iconic scenes and set pieces than any other horror film, perhaps rivaled only by The Exorcist (1973).  Few other films have been referenced or spoofed.

Now that I’ve written this review, I think it’s time to watch The Shining again.  The more I write and read about it, the more I want to return to its strange, ghostly world.

35 thoughts on “Monday Morning Movie Review: The Shining (1980)”

  1. And sometimes it’s no more complicated than “this is what happened to these people”. I used to be a huge King fan – til discovering his affiliation with, ya know, the real horror story of the Democrats. I know; I know. I can’t help it.

    But I was still a fan when I read The Shining. I thought to myself, boy, when Hollywood makes the movie, I can’t wait to see the moving hedges. In the book, the hedges around a portion of the Overlook were, by way of topiary, trimmed to resemble animals. In the story, it was supposed to be one of the first things to let you know ‘this place ain’t right’. It’s in the movie but you have to have quick eyes and a desire to see it. Let me know, Port, if you notice that scene.

    In the book, Christine, I couldn’t wait to see what Hollywood would do with the demon car scene. Sure enough … busted through the front door, crossed the room to the stairs, and up the stairs it went.

    For years after, whenever my sister or I had colds, we’d email each other and say we had ‘Captain Tripps’ – the escaped disease from … well, way before Wohan. It features in The Stand, probably, arguably, the finest piece of writing that King ever did.

    It helps to be a city kid to understand the natural discomfort with street drains. IT, another ace King story, took the discomfort and put a name – and a face! – to that discomfort. “We all float down here” is seared into my brain.

    King has never forgotten the things that scared him when he was kid. What scared us in our childhood doesn’t go away, it just becomes an uncomfortable place in the back of our minds in our adulthood. That’s why his stories are so effective.

    Treat yourself to the book, “Night Shift” – a collection of King short stories. Huge gross out and skin crawling story … about a company doing a warehouse clean out over a long weekend. What they find gave me the shudders.

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    • Thank you for that wonderful overview of Stephen King’s prowess as a horror writer, Audre. I should honestly run that as it’s own blog post!

      I grew up surrounded by Stephen King novels and adaptations of the same. My Mom was a HUGE Stephen King fan, and it’s probably why I saw things like the It miniseries way too young, haha. I still get scared thinking about the vampires in the miniseries adaptation of Salem’s Lot; those childhood fears run deep.

      I think Mom has a copy of Night Shift; if not, I can pick one up. I love short stories.

      I did not really start reading King until I was in my 20s. Not sure how I avoided it as a kid, seeing as his books were (and are) all over my parents’ house, but I think it’s because I knew how scary they were (and because my Mom probably made it clear that I wasn’t supposed to read them, although I do remember my older brother reading some King novels in his teens). Regardless, IT was amazing, and I still need to read The Stand (I also have vivid memories of that work’s adaptation).

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      • I think you’re being kind about IT. Like other King books, it had the odd good idea or description but was utterly ruined by the ending. If others here haven’t read the book and want to, I won’t wreck it for you but crikey!

        The one compliment I will give him is he writes children well.

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        • Maybe I am, but I read the book probably sixteen years ago! I do remember it getting pretty cosmic at the end.

          I think Salem’s Lot is the best King novel of those I have read. It is truly terrifying in parts, and portrays the struggle of Good vs. Evil in raw, primordial form.

          Yes—and writing children is tough! Of course, most of King’s novels are just him working out his childhood bullying, lol. And the protagonist is almost always a writer of some kind.

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          • I’m writing children in my book. Going back in your mind and digging up memories isn’t bad but it gets sketchy in places, so much so that the only way to write anything down is by revisiting your past. That means my book will have to wait until I can get back to Rochdale and revisit old haunts in Kirkholt, Queensway, Wardle, Milnrow and a whole host of other backwater places you wouldn’t know or want to.

            If you have a look at King’s past, maybe his present, you’ll probably find that his connection with Maine is strong, either because he returns every so often or still lives there. I’ve been away from my home town for about 25 years so writing from the past will be harder for me than it was for King.

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  3. I’ll try and get more down later – for some reason, it seems strange posting from hospital. 🙄

    Kubrick’s The Shining is only good because he told King that he wouldn’t infest his movie with goblins, essentially pointing out that King’s ending was pants. I’ve found that with the few King books I’ve read. Some occasional good ideas and descriptions but mostly hyperbolic horse s*** situated in either an Indian burial ground or outer fricking space! If I was directing and adapted a King story, I wouldn’t let him near the set.

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