“The Shining” is a monolith in pop culture. Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1980 horror film may have debuted to lackluster reviews from audiences and critics alike, but in the forty-five years since, its influence has expanded exponentially. It’s easy to see why: all these years later, “The Shining” remains a profoundly unsettling, tremendously compelling, and existential watch.

Any time the opportunity arises to see a Kubrick film on the big screen, I highly suggest taking it. Few directors in the history of the medium have utilized every single facet of cinematic construction to their advantage quite like Kubrick. As such, seeing his films in a theater can be a revelatory experience, one in which you truly see and comprehend the full scope of what the film is. This is doubly true when viewed on an IMAX screen, which gives Kubrick the largest canvas possible alongside an all-encompassing sound design. Seeing “The Shining” in IMAX was miraculous, equivalent to being swallowed whole by its unyielding descent into madness.

TOP FIVE THINGS ABOUT “THE SHINING”

5. The Script

Written by Kubrick and Pulitzer Prize finalist Diane Johnson, the screenplay for The Shining is a work of such audacious bravery that it deserves commendation in its own right. In adapting Stephen King’s novel of the same name, which had only been released a few years prior, Kubrick and Johnson stripped away much of the more overtly supernatural elements, as well as the more traditionally sentimental character work. Instead, the duo anchored the story more viciously in the bones and themes inherent to King’s novel, resulting in something decidedly less conventional and far more unsettling.

The result is a distinct and unshakable work that plays out as a thematically saturated, subjective familial drama just as much as it functions as a horror film. The script takes the two elements at play within the source material and fuses them into a singular vision: the supernatural is made more natural, while the natural is rendered more supernatural. What emerges is a film deeply committed to exploring the nuances of its characters in unflinching fashion, one that refuses to hold the audience’s hand through the ghostly flourishes of its latter half. The Shining challenges viewers on every level, practically daring them to follow it into the abyss, and that daring begins with Kubrick and Johnson’s script.

4. Wendy Carlos’ Score

For what is ostensibly a slow-burning, two-and-a-half-hour horror film, it’s remarkable how effectively The Shining communicates the malice, anger, and nihilism at its core from the very beginning. The iconic opening shot immediately pulls the viewer in, forcing the audience to meet the film on its own terms rather than the other way around. A gargantuan contributing factor to this moment, and to the film as a whole, is Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind’s score.

Building on the innovative, genre-bending work they had previously done on projects like Switched-On Bach and Kubrick’s own A Clockwork Orange, Carlos and Elkind brought an entirely avant-garde musical approach to The Shining, and the result is genuinely transcendent. The film moves in waves, immersing the viewer in the liquid weight of its story, then allowing them to feel every ounce of the buildup, the crash, and the lingering fallout of each beat. The music amplifies this effect in every conceivable way, engaging in a synchronous, discordant dance with the film’s visuals throughout its runtime. The result is so palpable and so inextricable from the experience that it’s impossible to imagine The Shining without it. Monumental stuff.

3. Roy Walker’s Production Design

For my money, the Overlook Hotel is one of the most iconic pieces of production design in film history. In creating this vast cathedral of modernism, production designer Roy Walker crafted distinct, instantly recognizable patterns, color motifs, and thematic variations for each area of the hotel. The result is that every corner of the Overlook, from the lobby to the Gold Room to the Torrance apartment to Room 237, feels visually distinct and idiosyncratic in its own way. Yet all of that variation remains unified by a single, overarching artistic vision.

Kubrick long played an integral role in the design of every facet of his films, and The Shining stands as a crowning achievement of just how incisive those instincts were, especially when paired with Walker’s jaw-dropping craftsmanship. These spaces function as gorgeous architectural creations on their own, while also being designed with deliberate purpose and meticulous intent. Beyond the narrative, the way these design choices subtly and subliminally affect the viewer is something well worth studying.

If the Overlook looked like an average hotel, The Shining would be a vastly less interesting film.

2. Jack and Shelley: The Torrances

Kubrick and his frequent collaborators, cinematographer John Alcott and editor Ray Lovejoy, share a very distinct sense of cinematic pace and tone that permeates their work together. Kubrick’s films move at a deliberate pace, one that was abrasive to sensibilities at the time and has only become more so for modern audiences. I adore this about his films, as it forces the audience into a state of active viewing and makes the experience far richer as a result. One of the major benefits of this approach is that it gives viewers a far more unobstructed, in-depth engagement with the actors.

To this end, Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall’s lead performances in The Shining are nothing short of jaw-dropping. I love the way Nicholson plays Jack Torrance as a man who is deeply disquieted from the outset, allowing the Overlook to bring what has always existed within him to the surface, rather than portraying the hotel as something that fundamentally changes him. Kubrick once famously compared Nicholson’s performance to James Cagney when speaking with Steven Spielberg, and the comparison feels incredibly apt. Nicholson delivers a performance so large it sears straight through the screen.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Shelley Duvall’s gentle, achingly tender performance as Wendy Torrance is profoundly affecting. Her work has long been taken for granted by audiences, which feels almost unbelievable. Shelley is the emotional foundation of the film; without believing in her performance, Nicholson’s manic eccentricities would not land nearly as effectively. She is the beating heart of The Shining, and Kubrick clearly understood this, rooting the film’s climax in Wendy’s fierce love and protection of their son, Danny.

1. Kubrick’s Direction

Saying Stanley Kubrick’s direction is masterful is akin to saying water is wet, but it still bears repeating. The Shining is an exacting, experiential film that digs far beneath the surface, and all of that is owed to Kubrick’s precise cultivation of craft. The result is an unapologetic, brash work that relies just as much on associative editing and subtle performance tics for its scares as it does on more conventional horror devices.

RGM GRADE

(A+)

One of the most singular and powerful works in the history of the horror genre. Obscenely affecting and invasive stuff. I adore this.

Will Jones