Artistic Horror

Review: The Shining (1980)

By: Meg Davy

The Shining by Stanley Kubrick is definitely a very unique genre of psychological thrillers. Through slow and drawn out scenes, Kubrick keeps us on our seats wondering where the next scene will lead. However, I will say I found myself thinking multiple times just how slow it is and if it’s truly necessary to make it that slow. The most prominent example I can think of from the watch is the scene where Danny writes the famous “Redrum” on the door with lipstick. During the whole scene all I could think was “This kid could not walk ANY slower right now!” Even with this, though, this is definitely still at least a top 10 horror movie for me personally.

One thing we mentioned in our discussion about this movie is how much the score plays into the psychological horror. In my opinion, this movie would not be scary whatsoever without the score. The switch up between the shrilling sound to complete silence really gives a chilling atmosphere to the movie.

Lastly, the cinematography in this movie definitely stands out a lot more compared to other horror movies and all genres of movies in general. For me, the only scenes where I feel like hiding behind my hands are when Danny is riding around the hotel on his tricycle simply because of the movement and angle of the camera. The quick whips around the corners and the camera being almost at the height of Danny just makes me scared for what might show up around the next corner. Another scene that I find more scary than most is when Jack is chasing Danny throughout the maze because of the lighting and how it just barely illuminates the maze enough to where we see more of just the silhouette of Jack and his ax.

Overall, The Shining is definitely proof that jump scares are not needed to make a scary movie. And, even if you don’t find it all that scary, it is still easy to appreciate the idea and craft behind it.