The Shining
| ♥ | This article is dedicated to Stanley Kubrick, who died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 70, six days after screening a final cut of Eyes Wide Shut for his family and the film's stars. (July 26, 1928 - March 7, 1999). Shelley Duvall who died on her sleep at her home (July 7, 1949 - July 11, 2024) |
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The Shining
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 2018.
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_U.K._release_poster_-_The_tide_of_terror_that_swept_America_IS_HERE.jpg) "Heeeere's JOHNNY!"
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The Shining (or stylized as THE SHiNiNG) is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by the late Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. The film is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name. The film was released in the United States on May 23, 1980, and in the United Kingdom on October 2, 1980, by Warner Bros. A sequel, Doctor Sleep, was released on November 8, 2019.
Plot
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes a winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer's block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), who is plagued by psychic premonitions. As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorizing his family.
Why It Breaks The Door
- Well-done acting, especially from Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall.
- Good-to-passable casting choices.
- Interesting characters, such as Danny Torrance and Dick Hallorann with their psychic powers called "The Shining".
- Through it may not be 100% faithful to the source material, the film does still stay quite true to the original book by Stephen King.
- Impressive cinematography for the early 80s.
- Amazing character development, especially with Jack Torrance.
- Many unforgettable scary scenes, such as the iconic scene where Danny encounters the ghost of identical twin girls down a long corridor and Jack gets attacked by a rotting naked woman, and especially the ever-so-iconic "HEEEEERE'S JOHNNY!" scene.
- Excellent jump scares.
- Memorable quotes and iconic dialogue, such as "Redrum! Redrum! Redrum!", "Gimme the bat, Wendy." and more famously, "HERE'S JOHNNY!".
- A couple of creative adjustments from Stephen King's novel that benefit the film.
- Excellent soundtrack provided by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind, especially the theme song.
- In particular, the famous non-original song, "Midnight, the Stars and You" by Harry M. Woods, Jimmy Campbell, and Reg Connelly, is also an amazingly well-fitting choice.
- Amazing designs, effects, and appearances for the spirits in the Overlook Hotel.
- It was also referenced, cameoed, and mentioned 37 years later in the movie Ready Player One.
Bad Qualities
- Shelley Duvall's performance was great, but she wasn't a good casting choice as she doesn't resemble Wendy Torrance from the book.
- Kubrick was extremely abusive towards Duvall. Her stress got so bad that her hair fell out during production (some of which she would give to Kubrick). Her torment showed on screen technically says it all.
- Because of that, not only did Stanley Kubrick become a Razzie nominee, but Shelley Duvall as well (which was rescinded on March 31, 2022).[1]
Reception
At the time of its release, reactions to the film were mixed; Stephen King criticized the film due to its deviations from the novel. Critical opinion has become more favorable in recent years and a staple of pop culture. In 2018, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 85% based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 8.39/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Though it deviates from Stephen King's novel, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is a chilling, often baroque journey into madness -- exemplified by an unforgettable turn from Jack Nicholson.". On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 66/100 based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Videos
Trivia
- In the European cut, all of the scenes involving Jackson and Burton were removed, but the credits remained unchanged. Dennen is on-screen in all versions of the film, albeit to a limited degree (and with no dialogue) in the European cut.
- Stanley Kubrick reportedly shot one scene in the movie 127 Times to get it right.
- The quote "Here's Johnny" was ad-libed.
- The Simpsons did a very funny parody of the movie called The Shinning as the first segment in their fifth annual Halloween special Treehouse of Horror V.
- In his 2019 novel The Institute, Stephen King references the film: "The little girls, Gerda and Greta, were standing and watching with wide, frightened eyes. They were holding hands and clutching dolls as identical as they were. They reminded Luke of twins in some old horror movie."
References
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