The Shining is a 1980 horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Scatman Crothers. Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a new position as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel.
The film has been praised for its chilling and majestic portrayal of cinematic fright, combining the elements of an intellectual thriller with the grand vision of a director who has the instinctual capacity to pace a moody horror flick within the realm of his filmmaking genius. It is known for its original shots, ice-cold soundtrack, and overall sense of dehumanization. The setting of a desolate winter hideaway adds to the film's atmosphere.
One of the scariest aspects of the film is the unknown, as it presents its plotting with that thought in mind. The film's subtle touches, such as the clackity-clacks of the young boy's big wheel riding along the empty hallways of the hotel and the labyrinthian garden representing the mind's fine line between sane and insane, contribute to its eerie atmosphere. Kubrick's purposely transfixed editing inconsistencies, continuity errors, and set mis-arrangements also add to the sense of the powerful and unknown.
The film's ending features a powerful visual puzzle, with a long camera shot moving down a hallway in the Overlook, eventually reaching the central photo among 21 photos on the wall, each capturing previous good times in the hotel, with Jack Torrance at the head of the party. This ending, like some of Kubrick's other movies, forces the audience to leave the theater asking, "What was that all about?".
Plot
The plot follows Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic, who accepts a new position as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Jack brings his wife, Wendy, and his son, Danny, who has a mysterious power known as "The Shining".
As the family settles into the isolated hotel, Danny has a vision of blood pouring out of an elevator, a recurring image throughout the film. The hotel's head chef, Dick Hallorann, recognizes Danny's telepathic abilities and explains that he and his grandmother also had the gift, referring to it as "shining". Hallorann warns Danny about the hotel and its sinister Room 237.
As the winter progresses, the hotel's supernatural presence begins to influence Jack, leading him to violence. Meanwhile, Danny continues to experience horrific visions from both the past and the future. Wendy, with her son's help, tries to escape the hotel, but Jack becomes increasingly deranged and pursues them with an axe.
In the final scene, Danny and Wendy manage to escape in Hallorann's snowcat machine, while Jack freezes to death in the hotel's hedge maze. The camera then pans in on a photograph from the 1920s on the hotel wall, revealing that Jack Torrance has always been a part of the hotel's dark history. The film's ending has been described as a powerful visual puzzle, leaving the audience with a sense of perplexity and a lingering question of its meaning.
Trailer
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Cast
- Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance
- Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance
- Danny Lloyd as Danny "Doc" Torrance
- Scatman Crothers as Dick Hallorann
- Barry Nelson as Stuart Ullman
- Philip Stone as Delbert Grady
- Joe Turkel as Lloyd
- Anne Jackson as Doctor
- Tony Burton as Larry Durkin
- Lia Beldam as young woman in bath
- Billie Gibson as old woman in bath
- Barry Dennen as Bill Watson
- Lisa and Louise Burns as the Grady "twins"-
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writers: Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson
Box Office Gross: $47,234,635
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Release Date (Theaters): May 23, 1980
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 15, 2008