Halloween Cult Classic: The Shining Film Review

Written By Caroline Sluss

Graphic By Hal Lueking

The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is one of the world's most favorite Halloween cult classic films. Released in 1980, the film is based on the story, The Shining, written by Stephen King. The story follows Jack Torrence; played by Jack Nicholson, his wife Wendy; played by Shelly Duvall, and their five-year-old son Danny; played by Danny Lloyd. Jack brings his family with him to the Overlook Hotel in Colorado for his new job as the winter caretaker. Meanwhile, Danny is suffering from the troubles of psychic premonitions, which help give the viewer a foreshadowing of the film. What makes this film a cult classic? Many would say that Kubrik’s style of directing is very particular in this film. The way that both Kubrick and King tell the story is another reason that this one of the greatest cult classic films, using both fictional horror and real horror for the viewer to relate to.

Diving into Kubrick's directing style, the main theme in The Shining is his use of colorful scenes. The main color choice being the iconic Overlook hotel carpet; with vibrant oranges, reds, and a hexagonal pattern, the carpet is very pleasing to the eye in many scenes, especially a major scene when Danny the son is seen riding around the hotel on his tricycle.. The shot of Danny and the twins is broken up into 9 squares, each telling a story, which builds on the rule of thirds principle. Moreover, another great example of Kubrick's use of color is in the recurring scene with the elevator. This is when a sea of red flows out of the red elevator doors and onto the clean white tile floor. Lastly, in the green bathroom scene, Kubrick has the shot set up to show the bathtub as the main focus of the shot. This main focus is shown later on in the movie when it is at center focus of the shot in showing a nightmare Danny is having. The bathtub is surrounded by a white tile wall and a light glowing above, while the rest of the bathroom is simply green. 

Many Shining fans would also say it's the story line that makes this film such a classic. The film shows real and fictional horrors throughout; the fictional horrors being the Overlook Hotel itself. In King's book, the hotel is described as more of a character and is portrayed as haunted from the beginning; but, in the film, Kubrick has it open to the viewer to decide the possibility of it being haunted. The real horrors of the film are the murder that occurs in Jack's life. The most obvious being the murder of some of the hotel staff, making Jack ravenous for murdering his own wife where he is led outside into the harsh snowstorm of Colorado, eventually leading to Jack’s death at the end. Another real life fearfulness in the film being the abuse that Danny and Wendy go through from Jack.

All in all, this film is seen by many as one of the best Halloween cult classic films of all time. Being way ahead of its time in the 80’s, the film has had a swarming amount of fans over the years Many have even visited theo locations that the story is based on, like the Stanley Hotel, which I have personally been to and can confirm is just as creepy as the film. Consider watching The Shining this Halloween and look out for these little gems within the movie!