Of all the films on our countdown, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining deserves to be called a perfect film. The film overwhelms me with it's power and brilliance each time I see it. The film becomes more cryptic with each view as well. In fact a new documentary called Room 237 is coming out soon that is all about crazy theories of what is really going on in The Shining.
The story is pretty simple for how complex the film is pieced together. A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. Yes the Torrances are in for a bad winter. The father is played, in an iconic performance, by Jack Nicholson. His wife is played by the utterly convincingly distraught Shelly Duvall and the son is played by Danny Lloyd. Let's not forget Scatman Crothers as another psychic who worked at the hotel.
The star is Nicholson but I would argue its Kubrick who really shines. His infamous meticulousness is evident in every detail and in every shot. The film was one of the first films to use steadycam shots often. The scenes following Danny riding around the halls of the hotel are spellbinding and turn quickly into scares when those twins arrive.
Kubrick does so much in the film to create a sense of unease. Many things in film aren't explained and that add to the overall scariness of the Overlook Hotel. Things like the couple in the animal masks engaged in oral sex, the old woman in the tube, the twins, and the elevator of blood all add to an increasingly haunted feel.
The elevator of blood is a perfect example of why The Shining deserves to be called a perfect film. Kubrick, known for wanting things perfect, took almost a year to get that shot right. It reportedly took nine days to set the shot up. The behind the scenes feature on the DVD shows him arguing madly with Duvall on set right before she is supposed to shoot a scene where Jack is running at her. She has gone on record as saying Kubrick was horrible to her but the worth of that is on film. Her performance truly looks terrified.
For all of his questionable methods, Kubrick made a masterpiece. Every scene, shot, performance, and background detail seems crucial to the film. Despite this Stephen King, whose novel the film is based on, dismissed the film saying he thought Kubrick intended to harm people with it. Kubrick reportedly called King at odd hours while shooting the film asking him if he believed in God and other such questions. Madness breed genius perhaps but just remember all work of no play makes Jack a very dull boy.
written by Matthew Robinson
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