The Shining Parent Guide

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) has just accepted an offer to work at the scenic Overlook Hotel during its winter closure. When the small, winding mountain roads freeze up in late fall, the hotel closes, and it needs a caretaker to keep the pipes from freezing. Jack sees this long isolation as a perfect time to finish the book he’s been working on, and a great opportunity to spend more time with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd). But once they’re tucked up in the massive hotel, all by themselves, they start to realize that they might not be quite as isolated as they thought.

I’ve written before about the perils of Stephen King adaptations (see Pet Sematery), so I’ll spare you from further rantings (although King’s personal opinion about this adaptation is an interesting story). The Shining deviates in a lot of places from the book (colder, less personal, and considerably less clear) but as an art film, it, well…shines. The camera creeps smoothly behind characters, sliding ominously around the abandoned hotel, and making even innocuous scenes tense and uncomfortable. The soundtrack is another chilling guest in the Overlook Hotel, full of shrieking violins and unsettling dissonance. It also just so happens to be completely awesome. Playing the nightmarish soundtrack may not make you popular with the people you live with, but it’s a great choice for a drive through the mountains.

Not that the movie really needs the help to be unsettling: casting Jack Nicholson took care of the creepy factor all on its own. Although he is considerably less sympathetic than Jack Torrance in the book, he’s a good deal more fun. Nicholson’s jack-o-lantern eyebrows and haunting smile are more than enough to make the Overlook feel possessed by evil. Shelley Duvall is doing an equally incredible job of selling that terror- in no small part because of her own talent, but certainly aided by Kubrick’s brutal treatment of her during filming.

As with most arthouse horror, this is not suitable for family viewing. Although it is considerably less profane and gory than a lot of modern horror flicks, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t both profane and gory. Graphic nudity also tends to make this a poor choice to watch with grandma and the kids. But for quarantine/snowed-in/in-laws-staying-over viewing, this is just about perfect. The Shining captures (and exaggerates) some of the psychological consequences of prolonged isolation- just don’t start drinking and wandering the halls of your home with an ax. That tends not to end well no matter how good the soundtrack is.