The Shining (1980) Review

“I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in!”

    The views that I express in this review may offend people, from personal experience, so be warned. The Shining is highly regarded as one of the best horror films ever made. Unlike most horror films nowadays the Shining does not rely on gory imagery to scare the viewer, instead it sets a frightening atmosphere. It is also full of minor disturbing unexplained eccentricities which all adds up to never-ending scares for the viewer. The plot is quite simple: Jack takes a job as a caretaker for the Overlook Hotel that is remote within the mountains of Colorado. Jack brings his son and wife along for the ride. During their stay peculiar things start happening and his son begins seeing images due to his power called ‘the shining’. Jack starts having cabin fever and goes crazy. Plot seems simple, but nothing is ever simple with Kubrick. All of his films are very complex and I believe that the shining is the most complex horror film to ever be made.
   I’d like to discuss several things about the shining, the first being Jack and Wendy’s relationship. Throughout the film Jack does not wear his wedding ring, but Wendy is always wearing hers. Actually none of the men in the film wear wedding rings from Ullman to Lloyd. So it appears that all the men seem to have some sort of difficulty with commitment to their family. Wendy tries to spend time his Jack, but every time he comes up with an excuse. He bans her from checking in on him while he’s writing his novel. He stays up all night while she’s sleeping and then he sleeps alone during the day. It’s safe to say that this isn’t really a happy marriage.
    Then there’s Danny and Jack’s relationship. There are hints in the film that Jack is sexually abusing Danny. When Jack is waiting to meet Ullman he is reading an issue of Playgirl. One of the featured articles on the magazine was ‘INCEST: Why Parents Sleep With Their Children’. While Jack is away to make sure he has gotten the job, Danny has an episode and his mother calls the psychiatrist. When she’s asking him questions his pants are removed with his hands suspiciously positioned over his groin region. Danny tells her that a little boy named tony lives in his mouth. She proceeds to ask that if he opens his mouth could she see Tony. He replies no because Tony goes down into his stomach. The psychiatrist proceeds to ask Danny if Tony makes him do anything and he then tells her that he doesn’t want to talk about Tony anymore. When Wendy first brought Jack his breakfast he is wearing a shirt with the name of the school that he taught at, which also shows the presence of children. Was he fired from the school because of his sickness with children? The number 42 shows up a lot in this film. First we see Danny wearing a shirt with 42 on it. Room 237, the room where bad things happen, can equal 42… 2x3x7=42.  Wendy and Danny are watching the Summer of 42, which is a film of an older woman who seduces a young boy. If you look closely, ever so closely, you can see what Kubrick is trying to portray. 
    Lastly there are bears. Wendy is searching for Danny in what was supposed to be an empty hotel only to witness a man wearing an open butt bear costume who is performing fellation on another man. They then stop and stare at Wendy. This scene is quite frightening because it comes out of nowhere without any explanation, but Kubrick put it there for a reason. Kubrick put a lot of bear motifs throughout the film.  For instance, when Danny was talking to the psychiatrist he had his head on a giant bear pillow. Teddy bears were in quite a few scenes sometimes the teddy bear was on the floor or on a chair. Teddy bears symbolizes the innocence of childhood, while bear is a term used in the LGBT community that is usually a hairy ruggedly masculine male. While at the Overlook Danny’s room has a bear picture above his bed representing that he is the bear. When Wendy sees the man in the bear suit it indicates that she has finally become aware of the sexual abuse Danny has received from Jack. She freaks out because she’s been completely oblivious the whole time. Most people don’t notice any of this, which I can see because they’re so engrossed in the horror aspect of the film.
  The Overlook hotel is haunted whether it’s from the troubling history or that the past has returned to do away with yet another family. Overlook hotel is silent and the rooms are big, but not as empty as they appear. Jack Nicholson’s performance is timeless. The film is unforgettable, magnificent, thought provoking, and actually frightening. It’s another wonderfully visual treat created by Kubrick. It gets even better with time. Kubrick’s films will forever be visited by future generations long after we’re dead.

5 out of 5