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Halloween Countdown: #2 The Shining

This is another classic film from the horror genre, again with a signature iconic scene. The Shining (1980) was another one of my first tastes of horror films, and immediately became a firm favourite. It was the first horror film that I actually sat and watched through alone; usually (since I never took heed of ratings) my brother always watched whatever film I wanted see first, to take note of any 'inappropriate' scenes or dialogue so he could skip them/tell me to look away. For some unknown reason, he never got around to checking over The Shining and I got fed up of waiting. He freaked out when I told him that I'd watched it without him, but I was too busy gushing about how awesome it was to all and sundry. To this day, my feelings about it haven't changed one bit.

It's the second film adaptation of a Stephen King novel that I've written about; the first being Carrie. It's common knowledge that King intensely dislikes director Stanley Kubrick's portrayal of his story. He believes that Kubrick altered it too much and made his characters basic and rather one-dimensional. Now I can't comment on this as I've yet to read the book, so I can't compare/contrast. That being said, looking at The Shining strictly film-wise, it is a brilliant watch. It's an extremely atmospheric film, intensified by the music and the camera work, which creates a fitting air of claustrophobia.Just like The Omen, the opening title to the film sets the tone. The camera sweeping over miles of vast scenery coupled with the ghostly whinings in the music make for a very eerie introduction.

The plot revolves around Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and his descent into madness whilst acting as winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel. Along with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny, Jack is responsible for maintenance of the hotel. The Overlook is in a remote location and gets heavily snowed in during the winter which is why it closes for the season. During Jack's interview for the post of caretaker, the first heavy piece of foreshadowing is laid: A former winter caretaker had a mental breakdown due to 'cabin fever', killed his family and then himself. Despite his cheery assurance that nothing like that will happen with him, it does end up going in that direction for Jack. He comes across as slightly unhinged pretty much from the word go, so this little bit of Overlook history is a very big hint that even first time viewers can't ignore. 

The other focus of the film is on Danny and the strange gift he possesses; dubbed "shining" by Overlook hotel chef, Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers). This gift includes telepathic ability, plus visions of past/future events. This "shining" often presents itself through Danny in the form of 'Tony', Danny's presumed imaginary friend. Tony has already shown Danny sinister visions of the hotel - a lift pouring with blood and two twin girls - and is reluctant for the Torrance's to go there. Although Tony is acknowledged by the adults around Danny, it is only Hallorann who knows the truth about what Tony represents. There is an open conversation between Danny and Hallorann about "shining". Hallorann himself possesses it, as did his grandmother. I love his explanation of Danny's visions:

"When something happens, it can leave a trace of itself behind. Say, like, if someone burns toast. Well, maybe things that happen leave other kinds of traces behind; not things that anyone can notice, but things that people who shine can see. Just like they can see things that haven't happened yet? Well, sometimes they can see things that happened a long time ago"

The toast analogy is perfect. The entire conversation puts this supernatural ability in layman's terms so that everybody can understand how it works. That being said, there are a number of WTH? moments throughout this film that I still don't fully understand - perhaps I should turn to the book for an explanation! Nevertheless, any confusion just adds to the general bizarre feeling of the film. 

It doesn't take long for Jack's 'crazy' to start showing. Hoping to use his time in the hotel to get back into writing, he spends the majority of his time alone while Wendy and Danny enjoy exploring the hotel and its grounds. His relationship with Wendy gets increasingly strained and the scene below is very telling:

I feel so sorry for Wendy here. It's like I've just watched someone kick a puppy! But the thing to note in this scene is the typewriter. Jack had pulled the paper from the typewriter and ripped it up when ranting at Wendy. When Wendy leaves, Jack continues typing on new paper, but how did it get there? The Overlook is feeding Jack paper as well as feeding his madness. It's a very subtle detail that can be easily overlooked (pun not intended!) but gives the indication that the whole place has a bad vibe to it. This is reiterated by Danny's experiences in the hotel and another memorable scene when he encounters the twin girls from his vision in one of the hallways. 

Murdered twins aside, the location and camera work for this scene is superb. The long shot of Danny trundling off-screen on his tricycle, then the jump to following him along the corridors and the corner-turn into the girls is an effective sequence. I particularly like the crashing gong sound as Danny is faced with the girls. The narrow hallways also give a 'no escape' feeling that's really unsettling. What's even more unnerving is the fact that, later on, Jack recites the girls' mantra of "Forever and ever and ever" when talking to Danny. Again, this is a very heavy hint that the hotel has some sort of control over Jack and things are going to go very wrong the longer they stay there. As Jack's mental state is deteriorates rapidly (he even dreams that he kills Wendy and Danny) Danny encounters another ghoul in mysterious room 237. Hallorann had earnestly warned Danny away from 237, but Danny is lured into entering during another creepy scene. Again, the camera angles add to building the tension as a ball is rolled towards Danny as he is playing with his toys. When Danny looks to see where it's come from, he's met with an empty hallway and the door to 237 open. The next time we see Danny, he's walking towards Jack and Wendy, as if in a daze, with his shirt torn and bruises on his neck. Wendy instinctively blames Jack which leads to a key scene that ramps up the supernatural element of the film.

Jack, displaying yet more signs of insanity, ends up sitting at the empty bar. He begins to ramble to himself ("I'd give my God damn soul for just a glass of beer") but then he looks right at the camera and begins talking to someone called Lloyd. The camera changes shot and we see a bartender standing in front a fully stocked bar who responds to Jack and they have a conversation in which there's a strong sense of familiarity. However, Lloyd and the drinks disappear when Wendy tracks Jack down and hysterically cries to him about a "crazy woman in one of the rooms" who Danny named as his attacker. Jack goes to investigate, leading to a simply bizarre scene where Jack encounters a naked young woman in the bath, makes out with her then runs away in horror as she transforms into a decaying old woman. This scene really is a WTH? moment for me and I do get royally freaked out by it every time I watch it. Jack returns to the Torrance's room, but denies seeing anybody in the room, much to Wendy's confusion. Jack puts Danny's injuries down as self-inflicted, but Wendy's convinced that something's really not right with Danny and suggests they leave the hotel to find him help. The prospect of leaving sends Jack into another unhinged rage and he storms out of the room and back to the bar. The hotel obviously has a strong hold on Jack if he's not willing to leave even when his son's health isn't good. When he reaches the bar this time around, the room is full of people attending some sort of party. A waiter (Phillip Stone) accidentally runs into Jack and spills drinks all over him, then ushers him into the bathroom to clean him up. This is another key scene which is full of intrigue. 

The waiter's name is Delbert Grady - Grady being the name of the caretaker who'd gone mad and murdered his family. Jack immediately picks up on this and begins to subtly quiz him on his history, with Grady being vague and evasive. Jack finally confront him with his knowledge, but Grady continues to deny all knowledge of what Jack is saying. Grady then twists the conversation in a strange and sinister way.

"You are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker. I should know, sir. I've always been here"  ties into to something that Jack had said to Wendy earlier in the film about having an extreme feeling of deja-vu in the hotel. That, the familiarity between Jack and Lloyd and the final shot in the film which shows a picture of Jack at the Overlook's July 4th Ball just presents far more questions than answers. Again, this is where the book probably explains more, but the film really messes with my head at this point and I resign myself to never getting a full explanation. It boils down to Grady, being aware of Jack's link with the hotel and his family's desire to leave it. He subtly urges Jack to "correct" the situation with Wendy and Danny (ie. kill them) as he did with his own wife and daughters. This is where the foreshadowing from the beginning of the film transforms into reality. I'd also like to mention just how damn creepy Phillip Stone is in this scene. He's got an eerily calm, soft voice but has this intimidating (threatening even) air about him. Very spooky.

Next is my favourite scene in the film. Wendy, realising that Jack is unstable, arms herself with a baseball bat and begins to search for him. She comes across his typewriter and finds that all he's typed during their entire time at the hotel is:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

While going through his pages, Jack appears behind her and there is a showdown that is full of heightened emotion on both sides. Jack has fully lost his marbles now and Wendy is petrified. The fact that this scene is slow-moving is what makes it effective. Jack doesn't rush at Wendy, he just keeps walking towards her, fixing her with a stare that's just full of menace. The tension is continually built up throughout this scene and I can really feel the fear emanating from Wendy. Jack Nicholson just seems to have a natural knack of portraying crazy (a little too!) well and this scene is a perfect example. There's such a mish-mash of behaviour from Jack in this scene and it demonstrates his total loss of sanity very well. 

Of course, the iconic moment that epitomises Jack's madness is this one:

 

Dubbed one of the scariest moments in film, 'Here's Johnny' is just like the shower scene in Psycho - even if you haven't seen the film, you're fully aware of the scene. It's just that infamous. This is part of the pay-off to what the entire film has been building up to: Jack's transformation into a complete madman and the intended deaths of his family. The last portion of the film is pure cat-and mouse as Jack chases Danny through the hotel and ends up stalking him in the Overlook's hedge maze in the snow. The hedge maze chase is another high-adrenaline scene that really cranks up the tension. Due to the snow, Danny isn't hard to follow as Jack simply follows his footprints. The twist comes when Danny manages to fall off Jack's radar by backtracking, then covering his prints with snow. Jack ends up going his own route and gets lost in the maze, freezing to death while Wendy and Danny escape the hotel. The film ends as a giant question mark as it zooms in on the picture of the July 4th Ball. Jack is featured there, smiling away with other guests, but the picture is dated 1921. Ultimately, the film has messed with the viewer's head as much as it has the characters'. 

This is partly the reason I love it so much. As a film on its own, there's so many unanswered questions, but it doesn't stop you from getting sucked into the story. As I said at the beginning, it's all about the atmosphere and the slow build up of dread. The 'action' is all towards the end of the film, but in order to fully appreciate that action you need to watch how it gets to that point. The dialogue is important too, even if some of it is very vague and only gives hints about something rather than explain it. 

Again, if you're not a fan of buckets of blood and gore then The Shining is a good film to go with. The beauty of it comes through the setting, the camera angles, the chilling music and sounds...Jack Nicholson no doubt steals the show and I just can't imagine anybody else in the role. The Shining is a great film to screw with your mind and although there's only one death (poor old Hallorann) it's still a freaky, unnerving film that doesn't lose its impact.