The Shining
HORROR-THON 2024 • SEEING RED
10/10
DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick
STARRING: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
RELEASED: 1980
RUNTIME: 2 hours, 26 minutes
WATCH ON: HBO Max, Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home
SCARE LEVEL: High
ROOM 237: Do not go in.
A little boy rides his Big Wheel down an endless hotel hallway. The wheels go loud on the wood, then silent on the carpet, then loud again. You know something is about to be around the corner. That sound alone is scarier than most entire movies.
Jack Torrance takes a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, a huge mountain resort that shuts down and gets snowed in every winter. He brings his wife Wendy and their son Danny. The plan is months of total isolation so Jack can write his novel.
Danny has a psychic ability the hotel’s cook calls “the shining,” and he starts seeing things in the hotel. Some things happen, and things that are going to happen. Jack, meanwhile, is not writing. He’s spending a lot of time in the gold ballroom bar. And the hotel very much wants him to stay.
MY HUMBLE OPINION
Obviously a classic. It’s Kubrick, so every shot is perfectly symmetrical, every hallway goes on forever, and every carpet is a vibe.
Speaking of vibes: Danny’s NASA sweater. The hand-knit one with the rocket on it? We’d all wear that today.
Also, the Overlook has been added to my list of places to have a wedding. The exteriors are real shots, and the interiors are all over-the-top ‘20s ballrooms and enormous lounges. Ignore the ghosts, and it’s a gorgeous venue.
But I do have one note for the Torrance family: it’s your fault you went to the middle of nowhere. A haunted mountain hotel, alone, all winter, with no phone. You get what you get.
Shelley Duval passed away in July 2024, making this viewing all the more special. Wendy is one of the most exhausting performances in horror, and she gave everything to it.
FUN FACT FOR YOUR NEXT DINNER PARTY
The scene where Jack is chasing Danny through the maze took over a month to shoot, during which the crew members often found themselves lost and having to communicate through walkie-talkies for assistance.