The Shining (1980)

The Shining was a name I immediately recognised. I knew of the patterned carpet, the creepy little girl twins and the axe waving Cheshire cat psycho, but that was about as far as my knowledge extended. I was thrilled by the continuous state of tension this film put its audience through. Expecting a horror film bursting with blood, complete with an obvious villain acting out your stereotypical plot (yes this was perhaps naïve given it's an adaption of a Stephen King novel), I was stunned by the subtle yet disturbing imagery and cinematography Kubrick used. What I was shown of Kubrick's work was a masterpiece that shocked me. The director composed a Rubik's cube of ideas; a mix between the psychological and supernatural. The idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy springs to mind. The Shining follows Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), your charismatic, quintessential American family guy of the early 1980s i.e. talking down to his fragile, hysterical wife (a broken china doll figurine played masterfully by Shelley Duvall). At the beginning of the film the audience sees Jack accepting a job as the caretaker of a luxury hotel over its isolated winter months. The summer manager informs Jack that his predecessor couldn't take the psychological cabin fever of the hotel's environment, resulting in the massacre of his wife and two young daughters. As the film unfolds the audience can see the unravelling (or perhaps tensing) of Jack's mind, as his young son Danny, who has an ominous imaginary friend who talks through Danny and expresses himself physically through Danny's index finger, foresees the tragedy that has and will happen. Kubrick's work is truly incredible. I'm not usually a fan of supernatural films, if indeed you can call the Shining this, but this was truly outstanding. The acting was terrifyingly brilliant with the heightened portrayal of female and male domestic roles. Moreover, Kubrick's use of panning shots to create a sense of isolation for the audience, as well as his use of colour theory was genius. The repetitive, patterned carpets created a sense of certain confusion for the audience's senses. The colour yellow gradually becomes more symbolically prevalent as the film moves closer to exploring madness and the Overlook Hotel's resurrection. Bonus: I now understand where the, 'Here's Johnny', infamous line is from. But, seriously, this film is a perfect example of an ominous thriller that subtly and stealthily grows until it grips you entirely to the plot, as you experience a suffocating madness in the hotel's never-ceasing corridors.