Review of The Shining (1980) by Allen G — 31 Mar 2016

Both my favourite horror film and my favourite Kubrick film- it's hard to beat a combo like that.

As a book-to-film adaptation this one is notoriously 'disrespectful' to the source material and while that may usually matter (because the source material tends to be better), in this case, I think the deviations made were for the better. Kubrick turned a fairly-typical ghost story into something that's been analysed in so many different ways that there's a whole separate film about them (check out room 237 if you haven't already).

Whether this is about the moon landing (it isn't) or if it's a reflection of the horrors of domestic abuse (that makes more sense to me), it's straight up scary either way. There are no jump scares here nor does the plot ever really reach any particular high moments (beyond the 'here's Johnny' of course). The terror in this one is different and terror is the perfect word. It's something that lurks behind the surface and the more that you think about it, the clearer it becomes.

The little boy riding through the endless muddle of corridors, Torrance's memories/hallucinations that fill the derelict rooms with crowds of people. Everything is just deeply unsettling. This is reflected perfectly by the relationship between Jack and Wendy, with Wendy's constant fear that her husband (or their son) will 'turn' on her and Nicholson's fabulous portrayal as a mad man (it's what he does, after all).

Some have been critical of Wendy's character in the film, arguing that she's a stereotypical horror damsel in distress but I think that's an unfair characterisation- the performance feels genuine and the events around her more than justify her responding in the way that she does. Further, I think there's a real courage to Wendy as, while she is scared of Jack, it's also clear that she would fight him to protect her son.

Anyway, I'm starting to go off on sidenotes and I do this every time I try and talk abut this film. The fact that a work in the horror genre can be so engaging to me in this way is quite surprising given how mindless many of its counterparts are. The Shining stands out as a true masterpiece and, unfortunately, begins to raise your expectations higher than most other horrors are ever going to come close to.