The Shining (1980) review

So much has been written about the film version of Stephen King's "The Shining" - now's my turn.

What makes this movie great is how you can rewatch it and you'll probably find something new, some little detail, that you didn't notice before. I just watched it again on Halloween and there's a scene where Jack is in the coral red and white bathroom with Delbert Grady. Jack mentions how he saw Grady in a newspaper clipping. Earlier in the movie you can see a notebook of newspaper clipping next to the typewriter on Jack's desk during the scene where Jack berates Wendy for interrupting his work.

Or how Jack is actually reading a "Playgirl" magazine in the beginning of the film when he's sitting in the lobby on the morning that the Torrance family moves into the hotel. There's a theory about this being an allusion to sexual abuse with Danny. There are many fan theories about the things in the film. Some say the film is about the Holocaust, the Native American genocide, Kubrick faking the moon landing, etc. People see Kubrick as a genius filmmaker and that leads them to think that he is hiding a bunch of messages in the film. Some are interesting but I think people are reading too much into the story and using confirmation bias to support their bullshit theories.

There is another theory about the use of mirrors in the film, which is i somewhat like. In every scene where Jack sees a ghost, there is a mirror around. The mirrors are a way of communicating between and contrasting the ghost world and the real world. You see this with Jack talking to Lloyd the bartender, Delbert Grady in the bathroom and the dead woman in room 237. There is also the scene where Danny writes "redrum" on the door, which is a mirror image of murder. Additionally, the first time we see Danny talking to "Tony" he is looking into a bathroom mirror. The theory looses strength when Delbert unlocks the pantry door for Jack near the end and when Wendy starts seeing freaky ghosts. There's also the possibility that Kubrick just likes to use mirrors in scenes because they help lighting and you can do interesting camera tricks - it's still a cool theory and something to ponder.

I used to have problems with Jack Nicholson already appearing mentally unstable in the beginning of the film and not having any character development - I don't anymore. As Delbert says to him in the film, "You've always been the caretaker. I should know sir. I've always been here."

So either Jack Torrance is a reincarnation of a caretaker from the 1920's (the one in the last photo) or, as Roger Ebert theorized, Jack Torrance is being absorbed into the hotel's history. Anyway, it doesn't matter that he's already a sociopath in the beginning of the film - he's always been a sociopath. Now he's stuck in the hotel forever and ever and ever.

The movie is absolutely memorable with many iconic scenes: the ax chopping the door, "Here's Johnny!", Danny riding around on his tricycle over the strange geometric carpet in the hallways, room 237 and its garish carpet and sexy naked bathtub ghost, "all work and no play make Jack a dull boy", the final reveal of the photograph and the twin sisters standing in the hallway to name a few. You don't just casually remember these scenes - they're embedded in my mind and I ruminate on them.

Something else I truly love is the use of music, especially how the use of Bartók's "Music for strings, percussion and celesta (adagio movement)". That's an eerie piece of music that seemed composed specifically for this film. It's remarkable how Kubrick perfectly lined up a lot of the crescendos with Jack waving his arms, a title card appearing on the screen or some other action.

For me, this is one of the greatest films ever made.