In 1980, Stephen King’s horror novel The Shining was adapted for film by visionary director Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange). In the movie, Jack, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic, accepts the job of winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, a haunted spot in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, and brings his terrified wife and shellshocked child along for the ride.
Although the film is not true to some parts of the book, which caused some controversy among staunch King fans, Kubrick does bring to life the terrors King so aptly wrote about, including domestic abuse, isolation, helplessness, and alcoholism. The film also conjures the same terrifying fears as the book with its haunting musical score, set design, camera angles, and the emotional performances of Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers. Instead of the predictable gothic interiors common to the genre, Kubrick chose bright, repetitive, geometric patterns; clashing color schemes with blood-red accents; and long, sweeping camera shots of vast empty interiors and landscapes to create a feeling of unease. The simple act of a child pedaling down empty hotel hallways on a Big Wheel builds anticipation, terrifying us with what may be around each corner.
There is a reason this movie is a classic, so often imitated and honored by other directors; Kubrick deftly marries the supernatural with the everyday, just as King does in his novels. At the heart of the film, we see a man wrestling with his demons—and in this case, the demons win. —Kristin Auble
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