Movies - The Shining

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	Movies - The Shining

The Shining (1980) is a film by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel of the same title by Stephen King. The film stars Jack Nicholson as frustrated writer Jack Torrance and Shelley Duvall as his wife Wendy. Although it can be seen as a horror film, The Shining defies many of the conventions of the genre.

The film features the first extensive use of the Steadicam to create long and elaborate tracking shots.

Synopsis

The new job

The audience is introduced to Jack Torrance, driving up to the Overlook Hotel in the mountains of Colorado, to be interviewed for the position of caretaker for the winter. The hotel is completely blocked off by winter snows which make it inaccessible, requiring an on-site caretaker to keep the building in repair. Jack sees this new position as an opportunity to start a writing career. Jack is unfazed when the manager informs him about one of the previous caretakers who killed his wife and two daughters, cut them into pieces, and "put both barrels of a shotgun in his mouth". However, he warns that his wife, Wendy, would be affected by the story as she is "a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict."

Back at home, Wendy asks their son, Danny, whether he is excited to go to the Overlook for the winter. She is answered by Tony, Danny's (apparently) imaginary friend, who speaks through Danny, accompanied by a change in voice and a wiggling of Danny's finger. "No he ain't, Mrs. Torrance," Tony says. Wendy tries to encourage him, saying that it will be fun, but he is not convinced.

Later on, Danny asks Tony what the problem with the Overlook is. Tony is reluctant to show Danny, but Danny pleads with him and the audience is treated to images which cut between lift (elevator) doors releasing torrents of blood and two twin girls in blue dresses and white stockings. The audience sees Danny screaming (while nothing is audible), and he passes out.

The doctor arrives to check Danny over. She asks him about what he remembers, and about Tony, to which Danny refuses to let much about him slip. The doctor and Wendy discuss the fact that Jack is an alcoholic in recovery, who had hurt Danny one evening while he was still drinking. Jack came home from his job as a teacher to find Danny playing with his father's papers, which were now strewn around the room. This irritated Jack enough to yank Danny up by the arm, dislocating his shoulder. This event gave Jack the impetus to give up alcohol.

The next day, the day on which the hotel will close for the winter, Jack, Wendy and Danny discuss the Donner party, who resorted to cannibalism after becoming snowbound, while driving their car through the forests up towards the Overlook. Wendy is a little distressed about the discussion of such a violent topic in front of Danny. Danny says that he saw it on the TV, to which Jack sarcastically replies, "See, it's okay. He saw it on the television".

Jack meets with the hotel staff, who invite him and his family to get an idea of the facilities in the hotel. They tour the inside of the Overlook hotel with its elaborate furnishings and picturesque rooms. Wendy is considerably impressed. Danny is in the games room, throwing darts at a board. He gets up to remove them from the board, and when he turns around, two girls are in the doorway, in blue dresses and white stockings, staring at him. Danny is frozen to the spot, and watches the two girls turn, arm in arm, walk out the door.

The family is introduced to the caretaker's quarters, the hotel's hedge maze, and the snow-cat vehicle. However, as they are shown around the hotel, the manager tells them the hotel is built atop an "Indian burial ground, and I believe they actually had to repel a few Indian attacks as they were building it."

The audience then sees the kitchens of the hotel, and the audience meets Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers), the hotel's head chef. Wendy is shown the myriad of food supplies in the hotel. Dick calls Danny, "Doc," a nickname only Wendy and Jack call him. When Wendy asks him how he knows the name, Dick says that he thought he heard her call Danny that some time before. Later on, though, Dick speaks to Danny telepathically whilst talking verbally to Wendy.

Dick suggests to Wendy that he and Danny get some ice cream. Dick explains to Danny that he is also telepathic, along with his grandmother, who referred to the communication as "shining". Danny asks Dick whether there is something bad at the hotel, and while he does not respond directly, he notes that some events leave a trace on the places they are at, "say like if someone burns toast." When Danny asks what is in Room 237, Dick replies urgently "There ain't nothing in Room 237, but you ain't got no business going in there anyway, so stay out! You understand, stay out!"

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Movies - The Shining

Synopsis

The new job

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