"Redrum... redrum... redrum... redrum..."Stephen King once described Stanley Kubrick's remake of his novel The Shining as "a great big beautiful Cadillac with no motor inside." That's perhaps the greatest evidence for King's prowess as a novelist not transferring to the film criticism. King was clearly too close to the subject matter, as Kubrick abandoned some of King's subplots (particularly the alcoholism of the lead character) and honed it into a pure, simple, haunted hotel flick.
Despite King's criticism, The Shining is deservedly considered one of horror cinema's greatest works, and regularly tops polls as the Best Horror Movie, often nudging perennial favourite The Exorcist into number 2.
Jack Nicholson stars as Jack Torrance, a struggling author who takes a job as a caretaker of the Overlook Hotel; a luxurious wooden building situated at the top of a large hill in remote surroundings. Jack is there to maintain the hotel during the freezing winter months, so takes his family along for the duration: bug-eyed wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and creepy Danny (Danny Lloyd), a young boy who has "the shining" (telepathic powers.)
Filming took place at Elstreet and Pinewood Studios in England, with Kubrick never stepping foot in America, where the film is set. Exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel (actually the Timerline Lodge in Oregon) were filmed by a second unit crew, or reconstructed on massive sound stages indoors. At the time, The Shining's hotel set was the biggest ever constructed.
As it typical of a Kubrick production, every frame of The Shining is precisely composed and masterfully shot. The director's demands for perfection put a lot of pressure on the production, particularly actress Shelley Duvall, who was made to redo one scene 127 times!27 years later, Duvall's scene still holds the World Record for the most retakes in a single scene with spoken dialogue -- although some insider sources claim the 127-take scene is a myth. However, it's widely agreed that a kitchen scene with Scatman Crowthers took around 80 takes to get right.
The Shining is an undoubtedly a masterful piece of directing, with even Jack Nicholson's lauded, bonkers performance failing to upstage Kubrick's eye detail and precision. The filming may have been a torturous, laboured affair for its cast and crew, but the results make for an almost hypnotic viewing experience. Unlike many modern horror movies, it's a work of careful, slow-building suspense, blessed with strong source material and some iconic sequences.
"I hope the audience has a good fright, has believed the film while they were watching it and retains some sense of it."
-- Stanley Kubrick
Trivia1. Child actor Danny Lloyd filmed The Shining without ever realizing he was starring in a horror movie!
2. Whenever Jack encounters ghosts, there is always a mirror present; perhaps representing the fact the "spirits" could just be a reflection of his own psyche?
3. The owners of the Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood, Oregon, were concerned their customers wouldn't stay in Room 217 (a haunted room in the novel), so asked Kubrick to change the number to 237 for the film.
4. The famous line "Heeeere's Johnny!" was ad-libbed by Jack Nicholson, as a parody of the opening to Johnny Caron's chat show. Carson used a clip of Nicholson for his 1980 anniversary show.
5. In one scene, Danny is shown wearing a T-shirt with "2001" on the front, as a nod to Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
6. Unused shots of the opening panoramic scenes, filmed by helicopter, were used in the closing moments of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.
7. Jack's manuscript with "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" typewritten thousands of times, was a real prop, that was genuinely typed. Even more amazing is the fact Kubrick insisted foreign-language versions were created!
Links & Video
A Complete Synopis
The Shining FAQ
A 1987 Essay
The Making Of The Shining by Vivian Kubrick (full video)
Shining - Bunny Re-enactment (30 seconds)
