The Shining (1980)

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stephen King (novel), Stanley Kubrick (screenplay)

Stars:

Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd

Top Rated Movies #63 | 4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Nicholson	...	Jack Torrance
Shelley Duvall	...	Wendy Torrance
Danny Lloyd	...	Danny
Scatman Crothers	...	Hallorann
Barry Nelson	...	Ullman
Philip Stone	...	Grady
Joe Turkel	...	Lloyd
Anne Jackson	...	Doctor
Tony Burton	...	Durkin
Lia Beldam	...	Young Woman in Bath
Billie Gibson	...	Old Woman in Bath
Barry Dennen	...	Watson
David Baxt	...	Forest Ranger 1
Manning Redwood	...	Forest Ranger 2
Lisa Burns	...	Grady Daughter

Storyline

Signing a contract, Jack Torrance, a normal writer and former teacher agrees to take care of a hotel which has a long, violent past that puts everyone in the hotel in a nervous situation. While Jack slowly gets more violent and angry of his life, his son, Danny, tries to use a special talent, the "Shining", to inform the people outside about whatever that is going on in the hotel.

---

Plot Keywords:

haunted hotel | labyrinth | identical twins | hotel | snow | 

---

Taglines:

Stanley Kubrick's epic nightmare of horror

---

Genres:

Drama | Horror

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 June 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Shining

Filming Locations:

Stansted Airport, Essex, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$622,337, 26 May 1980

Gross USA:

$45,332,952

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$46,207,001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Hawk Films, Peregrine

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min (cut) 119 min (cut) (European) 146 min (original) 142 min (US dvd release: B002VWNIDG)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Blu-ray release) Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film, for a television commercial in 2010 for Premier Inn hotels (UK), British comedian Lenny Henry reenacted Jack Nicholson's "Heeere's Johnny" scene ("Heeere's Lenny") in which he demolished a hotel bathroom door with an axe. The commercial was later banned due to complaints.

---

Goofs

During Torrance's second visit to the Gold Room bar, the level of whiskey in the glass goes up between takes, though the bartender hasn't made a move to refill it.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Jack Torrance: Hi, I've got an appointment with Mr. Ullman. My name is Jack Torrance.

---

Crazy Credits

The movie's opening titles are also the only instance in any Kubrick film where scrolling credits, rather than title cards, are used.

---

Alternate Versions

Early releases featured end credits in the same blue as in the opening titles, instead of the white credits seen today.

---

Connections

Referenced in SWAN Day CT (2010)

---

Soundtracks

Utrenja - Kanon Paschy
Music by Krzysztof Penderecki
Performed by Narodowa Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia w Katowicach (uncredited)
Conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki (uncredited)

User Reviews

Amazing achievement in filmmaking and the art of terror.

Chilling, majestic piece of cinematic fright, this film combines all the great elements of an intellectual thriller, with the grand vision of a director who has the instinctual capacity to pace a moody horror flick within the realm of his filmmaking genius that includes an eye for the original shot, an ice-cold soundtrack and an overall sense of dehumanization. This movie cuts through all the typical horror movies like a red-poker through a human eye, as it allows the viewer to not only feel the violence and psychosis of its protagonist, but appreciate the seed from which the derangement stems. One of the scariest things for people to face is the unknown and this film presents its plotting with just that thought in mind. The setting is perfect, in a desolate winter hideaway. The quietness of the moment is a character in itself, as the fermenting aggressor in Jack Torrance's mind wallows in this idle time, and breeds the devil's new playground. I always felt like the presence of evil was dormant in all of our minds, with only the circumstances of the moment, and the reasons given therein, needed to wake its violent ass and pounce over its unsuspecting victims. This film is a perfect example of this very thought.

And it is within this film's subtle touches of the canvas, the clackity-clacks of the young boy's big wheel riding along the empty hallways of the hotel, the labyrinthian garden representing the mind's fine line between sane and insane, Kubrick's purposely transfixed editing inconsistencies, continuity errors and set mis-arrangements, that we discover a world guided by the righteous and tangible, but coaxed away by the powerful and unknown. I have never read the book upon which the film is based, but without that as a comparison point, I am proud to say that this is one of the most terrifying films that I have ever seen. I thought that the runtime of the film could've been cut by a little bit, but then again, I am not one of the most acclaimed directors in the history of film, so maybe I should keep my two-cent criticisms over a superb film, to myself. All in all, this movie captures your attention with its grand form and vision, ropes you in with some terror and eccentric direction, and ties you down and stabs you in the heart with its cold-eyed view of the man's mind gone overboard, creepy atmosphere and the loss of humanity.

Rating: 9/10