The Shining: Revolutionizing the Horror/Thriller Genre

 This week's blog post will be analyzing the movie The Shining (1980).  The Shining (1980) is a drama/horror film that was released in 1980 and is directed by Stanley Kubrick.  This is somewhat based on Stephen King's original novel of The Shining, but the movie takes a different approach to the story, and this was a great decision.  From start to finish, the movie had me on my toes and engaged, trying to anticipate what is going to happen.  And then when you get to the end of the film, it leaves you with a sense of wonder and gives you an unsettling feeling, like you didn't know what you just watched.  The ending leaves it up to the audience to interpret what the film means, and what its ending means.  

Now, there are many things in this film that elevate the film to a high level.  The acting in this film is just one of these excellent pieces.  Jack Nicholson's performance in the lead role is outstanding, and as his character is slowly deteriorating mentally due to the haunted presence in the hotel, you can believe that he is truly losing his mind, because with how Kubrick has written and directed the film, he keeps what is happening in the movie realistic, and without going over the top in key scenes and character interactions.  Danny Lloyd's performance as the child of the Torrance family is surprisingly great, and is impressive for child acting.  In the film, Lloyd's character has a psychic ability that he can use to communicate with people, and this is displayed in a way where, once again, the audience can believe this is happening because it is realistic to what psychic communication could look like.  The tone in this film, for a horror/thriller, is not only very good, but also consistent.  Throughout the whole film, it makes the audience feel on edge and uneasy, especially in key scenes in the movie where Kubrick wants the audience to have this feeling of uneasiness.  Speaking of key scenes, there are a lot of excellent scenes in this film.  There's the obvious "Here's Johnny" scene that is terrifying, but also a little funny at the same time.  There are also many scenes of Nicholson's character interacting with the spirits that are present in the hotel, and these scenes also show his slow spiral into madness.  All in all, this film encapsulates what a horror/thriller film should be, keeping the audience on edge and at the edge of their seats the whole way through, and this film has inspired many other horror films to come about and innovate off of what The Shining (1980) was doing right.