The Shining (1980)
Grade: A+
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crouthers
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Rated R for violence, language, and nudity.

Stanley Kubrick, the genius behind such classic films as "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" always seemed a little freaky, at least to me—he has issues. Both "2001" and "Dr. Strangelove" (yes, even that dark satire) are, in their own way, a little scary. It’s not a surprise that the versatile director finally ventured into the all-out horror genre. His adaptation of Stephen King’s "The Shining" is a terrifying portrayal of domestic terror, with the ultimate fear of a loved one turning against you in the worst way. King’s novel ambles for a little too long, going too far into its character’s past, as well as expecting a few ridiculous moments to pass off as scary (I’m thinking the walking topiaries here). While that stuff can be interesting, it goes on for strenuous periods of time, altering the all-out effect of the novel. But the good stuff is as good (not to mention as disturbing) as anything I’ve ever read. However, if I were to choose, I would say Kubrick’s vision of "The Shining" is superior in more ways. It isn’t as slow (nearly everything in every scene seems necessary), and it creates the best parts of the books with a startling accuracy. Too bad they left out so many significant parts, but hey---I’d watch the movie again over reading the book again any day.

Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a late 30s/early 40sish man with a wife named Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and a son named Danny (Danny Lloyd). The film starts with us learning that Jack has just won the job of caretaker of the Overlook Hotel for the winter. The Overlook is a huge place, the perfect setting for this kind of film. Of course, with these kinds of films, there’s bound to be a history to the setting, and the history here is this: Delbert Grady, caretaker of the hotel in 1970, got a little case of cabin fever once he became snowbound, and killed his wife and twin daughters right before offing himself. We also see that Danny has a friend named Tony. Who is Tony? “Tony’s the little boy who lives in my mouth,” Danny explains patiently at least twice in the movie, and Wendy and Jack dismiss Tony as an imaginary friend. But the truth is—as explained to Danny by the Overlook’s black chef, Dick Hallorann, who has the same gift Danny does—that Danny has a gift called ‘shining’. The gift consists of being able to carry on conversations without even opening your mouth with people who have the ‘shining’, as well as being shown usually truthful images of the future or the past—‘Tony’ is the person that shows Danny those images, and right before Jack gets the job, he starts experiencing images associated with the Overlook’s troubled past.

If the film has a very noticeable problem, it is the fact that the scenes depicting Danny or Hallorann shining can’t be conveyed very well visually---those scenes, in fact, are what make the book what it is. In the film, they’re disorienting and don’t make much sense, but now that I look at it from a certain angle (having viewed the film around ten times), maybe that’s the effect Kubrick wanted.

Moving on: the Torrance family moves to the Overlook for the winter (and the spring; the Overlook doesn’t open back up until May the 1st), and Danny realizes that the place is haunted as he sees visions of two dead girls and is nearly choked to death by a crazy woman in Room 237, even though the Torrances are the only ones there. As they become snowbound, Jack inevitably starts to gradually crack up (speaking of ‘cuckoo’s nest’…), and eventually goes on a murderous rampage, adamant on ‘correcting’ his wife and son, as was advised by Mr. Grady. How does he talk to Mr. Grady? In a couple scenes (all of them with motives open to discussion, since there could be many interpretations from different people) Jack converses with people such as Grady and Lloyd, the bartender at the Overlook who gives him a drink—even though all alcohol is confiscated during the winter due to insurance. We learn that, while drunk, Jack accidentally hurt Danny, and as he is subject to alcohol, the vicious blame of his wife, and the Overlook Hotel itself, our fear increases to the point of a terrifying cornucopia of fear, confusion, and disturbing secrets from Jack’s and the Overlook’s past.

The film would not be what it is without Jack Nicholson’s unforgettable and frightening performance. Why, in 1980, was he not up for an Academy Award? It was Robert DeNiro’s year, sure, but Nicholson’s portrayal deserves to be acknowledged in a way more dignified than the constant quoting of the gleefully sadistic delivery of “Heeeeerre’s Johnny!!” (a citation that is, for the record, a follow-up to Jack quoting the Big Bad Wolf of “Three Little Pigs” fame) The scene that is home for the epitome of his performances is right after the infamous “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy” scene. As he screams insanely at her, “Wendy!…Darling!…Light…of my life. I’m not gonna to hurt you. You didn’t let me finish my sentence. I said, I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m just gonna bash your brains in. I’m gonna bash ‘em right the f--k in!” he hams it up in a way he hasn’t on screen before (his performances in Chinatown—and even One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest—were ten times more subdued than this), but he also gives the best performance he’s ever given. His Jack Torrance isn’t as 3-D as he is in the book (144 minutes isn’t exactly the generous amount of time King’s book had---647 pages in my copy), but then again, that very misstep almost makes him more captivating. We never quite know what makes him tick, so he could snap at any second, and be waiting around the corner to…well, bash Wendy’s brains in.

To journey further into "The Shining"’s performances, I found it an interesting thought when Danny Lloyd’s performance detoured me to the contemplation, ‘Wouldn’t it be scary to be in this movie at age 7?’, but his portrayal is an engrossing one nonetheless (even though I figured out early on what exactly ‘Redrum,’ the film’s biggest mystery, meant). Shelley Duvall is ugly and whiny, but then resorts to a chillingly precise form of terror in the last half hour of the film that can only be described as surprising when compared side by side to her work in the film up until that point.

Is the screenplay loyal to King’s vision? Not exactly. There is a freaky shrub maze in the place of those ridiculous topiaries. Wendy is homely and black-haired instead of pretty and blond. We don’t get much of an idea of Jack’s alcoholic past. Stuart Ullman (the man who gives Jack his job) is, disappointingly enough, a nice guy rather than a jerk this time around. The whole (admittedly corny) subplot/metaphor involving a wasps’ nest was thankfully scrapped. It basically does a lot of trimming that King’s editor should have thought of doing.

The film might seem a step down for Kubrick, the man who revitalized science fiction with 1968’s "2001: A Space Odyssey" and stirred controversy with 1971’s "A Clockwork Orange." But in reality, it’s just Stanley stretching his legs, trying a genre he hasn’t had a go at before. It has all the power of your typical Kubrick film as we are given the prospect that Jack has been there forever. Horror is a hard genre to capture perfection in, and for its classification alone, "The Shining" is somewhat looked down upon. But can you really imagine it being any better?


-Alex, July 2002