Review: The Shining (1980)
After days-long shipping delays because of an apparently mislabled package (someone checked off “Bulk”, not “Priority”; yes, it’s only a few days, but Internet shoppers have a peculiar impatience; I like to think I’m on the more reasonable part of the spectrum, though, since I didn’t go flame the mail order company), I finally got the Kubrick DVDs I ordered. I watched The Shining last night. Yes, I had sworn never to watch this movie after dark ever again, but, like in one of those archetypal Hollywood redemption sequences, I steeled myself with some ice cream and got on the proverbial horse again. Surprisingly, while creeped out, I came through this experience with flying colors: the two dead girls only cause one major shudder. Same with “redrum”.
I actually saw the movie before reading the Stephen King novel, which I got around to doing this winter. The novel itself is so-so — I think IT is his best work, followed closely by two of the novellas of Four Seasons, though I haven’t read many of his early books — without a single certifiable scare, all presented in writing that fails to flow. Perhaps the novel never built up steam (pardon the pun) because I had seen the movie first, and I kept seeing how this book differed from Kubrick’s vision, even though the book does have a certain priority.
I can see why Stephen King fans would complain about the Kubrick film. Yes, the basic plot is there, but missing are all of the detailed King touches, the rich descriptions of the characters. The book’s Jack, for instance, is more real, a man struggling with his temper and alcoholism. The movie’s Jack, while magnificent as he loses his mind, evokes little sympathy. He’s a cipher, not betraying much real humanity at the beginning to illustrate how far he’s fallen by the end. And there are the missing supernatural fireworks that King provides with, say, the hedge animals that is nowhere to be found in the film. (In this case, I think Kubrick’s use of the two dead girls is far creepier than what would seem to be standard horror movie living hedge animals, though. It adds more texture to Danny’s horror; the Overlook will kill children casually.) But the movie is Kubrick’s particular vision, not really King’s. These are separate arts. (I haven’t seen the recent King-approved mini-series, so I won’t comment on it.)
And how is Kubrick’s movie? I’ve seen it once before, and piecemeal several times afterwards. Before my most recent viewing, The Shining is pretty much the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. Even after this current viewing, it’s still god awful creepy, even though I know everything that’s coming. (No, I haven’t seen The Blair Witch Project yet.) As noted, there’s a certain lack of character development with Jack compared to the novel, so our sympathies don’t lie with him. He comes across as either a blank slate or an asshole. Shelly Duvall’s Wendy does evoke sympathies, as does Danny. Everyone’s acting was excellent, and Nicholson deserves every praise for his insane Jack. The sequences before he picks up the axe at the end are the best, though.
In terms of the scary bits, the two dead girls are fantastic. Not twins, but dressed identically to give a creepy dissonance. Equally effective is Danny/Tony’s “redrum”, especially the urgent “redrum” before Wendy sees the real meaning in the mirror. The woman of Room 237 is so-so, but the real horror of that sequence lay in extending the moment longer than one would have thought. The music, in particular, is used effectively. I suppose no horror movie would be scary without good, creepy music, but The Shining’s use of music and sound is pretty much perfect. Sound, disturbing sound, permeates the hotel. It’s the evil aura of the place made perceptible to the audience.
>From a DVD perspective, this disc is only average. Clearly, it’s a rush job to get out the product before Eyes Wide Shut. There is a nice “Making of The Shining” documentary which shows a nice slice of life of film production. It was all a set, not a hotel Kubrick occupied for months. The sound is acceptable for a film of this vintage. You really don’t need Dolby Digital 5.1 to invoke creepiness, given the quality of the soundtrack. The picture quality, though, is disappointing. It looks like they took a dusty old copy of the film and transfered it to DVD. You can see film defects as you watch the movie. Nothing so obvious as a hair, but the movie shows it age. There should have been a restoration job.
Oh, there’s a nice collection of essays on The Shining, as a movie, at this URL:
http://www.mindbuilder.com/mkraft/shining/index.html
I’m not sure about the thrust of the main essay regarding the fate of Native Americans and the Overlook, though. Some of the text is there, but I find it tenuous. It sounds like an overzealous freshman in his first lit class. It’s apparently a column for the San Francisco Examiner, so I suppose the author couldn’t really elaborate on his thesis, given word count constraints.