Halloween Horror Favorite: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

By Emily Carney

“Some places are like people: some shine and some don’t.”

True confession: I have never read Stephen King’s The Shining.

My only exposure to the book has been through Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 cinematic interpretation, which King allegedly wasn’t thrilled with. To me, Kubrick’s version was his brave attempt to make a slasher/horror movie. While the movie lacks the extreme gore factor of most horror films, it still manages to scare the living hell out of me. The Shining also makes me rock with laughter in some places because of the often-implausible instances of violence, not-so-great acting, and insanely written dialogue.

Screencap from Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches

The Shining is a “scary movie” because of what it doesn’t show. I remember first seeing it as a young child and being completely confused by it. Who the hell were those two freaky-looking girls who beckoned Danny to come play with them? What was up with the sea of blood coming out of the hotel’s elevators? What was up with Danny’s seizure-like shaking/bad overacting? (I KNOW, he was a kid. Whatever.) Kubrick has a tendency to avoid explicitly stating major events in his films’ plots. This tendency to was used to infuriating effect in The Shining, as well as in every other film he ever made. At any rate, Kubrick’s vagueness as a storyteller does add suspense to the movie, and by the time you view Jack Torrance’s immaculate, freakishly repetitive typing of “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” you feel so tense you want to leave the room. Kubrick’s Overlook Hotel is very stylized and corridor-oriented, which further contributes to the film’s sense of forbidding isolation.

Screencap from Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches

Moreover, I wonder if Kubrick meant for some parts of the movie to be intentionally hilarious. Shelley Duvall, for example. . . her acting is so wooden yet somehow so over-the-top that I wonder if Kubrick meant for her to appear that way, or if she genuinely was overmatched by Jack Nicholson (who, unsurprisingly, seemed to have no problem portraying a total psychopath). Her acting seems to consist of two styles: looking bewildered or looking hysterical. As Danny, young actor Danny Lloyd suffers a similar fate, and his Home Alone-style “shock” and wide-eyes when he sees horrifying visions are pretty hilarious. Most people would have probably just screamed and left the damn hotel if they had seen such gross visions. But of course there’s a huge blizzard outside, and the family is stranded with their crazy-ass patriarch.

The only character who really seems to have his shit together is Dick Hallorann (played by Scatman Crothers), the hotel’s seasonal cook who, like Danny, has “the shine.” Kubrick gives Dick Hallorann the very best line in the movie: “Larry, just between you and me, we got a very serious problem with the people taking care of the place. They turned out to be completely unreliable assholes.” This line pretty much sums up the entire film for those who previously may not have been paying attention. One has the feeling that Kubrick just let Scatman Crothers ad lib his own dialogue at this point in the movie. Because Hallorann is such a great character with genuine “hero” potential, he is guaranteed to die an early, hideous death. SPOILER: Dick Hallorann dies in a bloody death scene by axe, effectively ending the best lines in the movie; viewers are further punished with Shelley Duvall’s feigned hysteria, and are gripped by a truly terrifying chase scene.

Screencap from Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches

While Kubrick’s vision of The Shining did not impress Stephen King, this movie remains one of my Halloween favorites because of the sheer anxiety it invokes, and the inappropriate hilarity it inspires. A TV remake of The Shining was made in 1997 with Stephen King’s authorization; I refuse to see it, just as I refuse to read Stephen King’s book. This is partly because I am exceptionally lazy, but I’d prefer to keep Kubrick’s version in my mind forever!