Still Scary Decades Later

Do you ever do something you know you shouldn’t? It’s not productive, healthy, or even sanity-inducing. But you do it anyway. The other night I was channel-surfing and came upon “The Shining.” Don’t go there, I warned myself. But alas, I started viewing and within minutes, was hiding behind a throw pillow. Here are 5 reasons “The Shining” is still one of cinema’s most traumatizing movies.

That big, weird hotel –Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) lands a job as caretaker for this immense Colorado resort, now eerily empty for the season. He brings wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) to stay with him—just the three of them for months. Don’t worry, the harsh Colorado winter promises lots of togetherness with closed, impassable roads. What could go wrong?

There’s something impersonal and indifferent about the Overlook hotel, which gives that extra shiver factor. Huge spaces make us feel small and defenseless. It’s impossible to know what’s going on in the far reaches. And in this case, we don’t want to know. When we don’t know, our imagination goes wild.

Little Danny Riding His Big Wheel – Why are these scenes so nerve-racking? It’s a kid navigating around a large hotel on his trike. And yet I’m ready to jump out of my skin. All we hear is the endless squeak-squeak of those plastic wheels and pedals, first on carpets and then hardwood floors as he makes his way along endless, silent hallways.

As he zooms along, we sense something bad’s about to happen. The child looks so little and vulnerable, about to be swallowed up by some evil we feel but can’t see. Director Stanley Kubrik was a master at foreboding, and he’s at his best here.

Twin ghost girls – Danny rounds the corner and there they are—those creepy little girls wearing matching blue dresses with pink ribbons. “Come play with us,” they say in their strange, baby-doll voices. Danny stares at them for a moment, looks away, and then they’re gone.

We all think we know reality. But maybe we don’t. We look and everything’s fine. We look again and there are two dead girls, supposedly murdered by their dad who went cray-cray. First you see it, then you don’t. Kubrick loved to play with our heads. And dang, he was good.

Room 237 – Disturbing things have happened in this space, Jack is told. One day, he goes to investigate. The camera does a slow pan through an ordinary hotel room that still manages to chill. Someone’s taking a bath, which is strange, since no one else is at this hotel. Jack slowly enters the bathroom. A white shower curtain obscures the bather. But wait, a hand lifts from the water and slowly pulls back the curtain. By now I’m ready to jump out the window.

It’s the not-knowing and what-will-happen-next that I find harder to watch than the overtly scary scenes. I want to turn away but can’t. The bather turns out to be a beautiful, naked woman. Okay, I guess that’s harmless, but why is she here so early in the season? It doesn’t help when she morphs into a decaying crone before Jack’s terrified eyes. Check, please.

That Blood Red Bathroom: Here is where Jack meets ghostly butler Grady who tries to convince him to correct his increasingly unsettled wife and child…with an ax. Jack is obviously suffering from psychosis at this point. And this ghostly apparition, surrounded by slick, blood red bathroom walls, is making a sale.

I can’t help but wonder, are we all susceptible to madness? Given the right circumstances, (and hotel care-taking opportunities) could any of us fall under a demonic spell? Is there a thin line between minding our own business and falling prey to darker forces?

(I know I’ve left out lots of iconic scenes, including the reason why the movie is called, “The Shining,” but these are the ones I find most traumatizing).

Was the Overlook really haunted? We’ll never know. Whatever the case, “The Shining” is a glimpse into an unknowable realm, a place of spirits, and shadow and mystery. Most of us manage not to look too closely to those dark corners in life.

But sometimes we can’t help taking a tiny peek—even if it’s from behind a pillow.

 

Is there a movie that freaks you out every time? Comments are always welcome and if you’d like emails sent to your in-box, just press here. Thank you!