The Shining
Stanley Kubrick
Review/Critique: "How could anybody write an entire thesis paper on one movie?" This is a question that may have crossed my mind before watching The Shining, but will never cross my mind ever again. Knowing as much as I did going into this movie I really wasn't expecting to be confused, but lo and behold come the end of it I'm wondering what the fuck just happened. I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey earlier this year, so I thought that I was prepared for the worst Kubrick could throw at me. Clearly I was mistaken.
The Shining is one of those movies that you could talk about with someone for hours and still barely scratch the surface of what you think the movie might be trying to say. Even with it being one of the most famous horror movies ever made, one that literally has another famous movie dedicated to analyzing it, there's still so much that hasn't been said. I think this is the biggest strength of The Shining, but also its biggest flaw. While I went into it knowing what a Kubrick movie is generally like, there are many who go into it expecting something very different and I can't blame them. The movie carries a lot of hype and mysticism, often being cited as one of the great horror movies, but it's not all that overtly scary. I'm easily scared myself and I was able to handle the whole movie start to finish with relative ease. It's creepy don't get me wrong and it has a lot of really dark, twisted themes, but is it scary? Not really. It's much like Kubrick's other films. It builds tension with long drawn out panned shots and booming background music. It rarely ever crescendo's into something truly haunting and when it does it's more psychologically manipulative than it is outright visually terrifying. It goes into the minds of its characters to show you how they're feeling, how their mental state is changing, and how those changes effect the people around them. I'm not going to argue that The Shining isn't a horror movie, but I will certainly say that classifying it as such ends up leaving a lot of people let down - especially by today's standards for the horror genre. Unless you're fanatical about horror and can appreciate the ways this movie has influenced the genre, you'll likely come away from it wanting more. Like I said before, it's not that overtly scary, it's very slow, and some of the performances can be kind of hit or miss. How then would I describe The Shining and what is its appeal? The Shining is a movie that begs to be analyzed. The more you do the more things you come to appreciate about it. There's so many little touches in this movie, such great camera work, so many subtle acting choices, the process of shaping and reshaping the lens with which you view the movie is a huge part of the enjoyment - and sure I may have said that it's not that overtly terrifying, but I would be lying if I said it didn't have some chilling moments. It's just more about getting into your head and defying your expectations than it is about making you jump out of your seat to go bleach your eyeballs.
Recommendation: I think The Shining is the perfect example of a movie that's better enjoyed by somebody who likes talking about movies as much or more than they like watching them. If that sounds like you then you really should give it a watch. Even if you aren't too big on horror or have a hard time handling it like me, just get a group of friends together and I promise you it won't be too bad and it will be well worth your time. In fact I think if the above describes you, it's the perfect movie for you. This will likely be in the upper range of what you can handle which in my opinion will make you even more enamored by it. If you are super into horror but don't really care much about the movies that influenced the genre, this probably isn't for you. Unless you also really like talking about movies you will probably get pretty bored of what The Shining has to offer you. Overall though you can't really go wrong with this movie. I think it's a pretty likable film with enough highbrow and lowbrow content to make everybody happy and get everybody talking at the end of the day. Throw it on at your next Halloween party, or watch it in a dark room by yourself, just make sure you've got a buddy who's down to talk about it with you.
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And that's my review of The Shining! Next up is House of Leaves, a book that's taken me a very long time to get through (it's very long).
Until then!
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