Film review - The Shining (1980)

Figure 1. The Shining Movie Poster (1980)

Released in 1980 and directed by Stanley Kubrick, 'The Shining' is a film about a family that move to 'The Overlook Hotel' in Colorado in order for Jack Torrance (The father of the family who is played by Jack Nicholson) to work as a caretaker while the hotel is isolated for five months during the winter break. In his job interview, Jack is briefly warned about a murder that happened in the hotel between the caretaker and his family. Jack then explains that nothing like that would happen between him and his family to which the evil spirits within the hotel fight back, causing for Jack to go insane.

Figure 2. The Shining (1980)

Throughout the film, Kubrick uses sound to create more tension. "The result is gloriously precision-made. The use of sound especially (listen to the remarkable rhythm of silence then clatter set up by Danny pedaling his trike intermittently over carpet then wooden floor.)" (Nathan, 2012) This also suggests that he uses the sounds to put the audience on edge and make it seem as though they are within the film. 

Figure 3. The Shining (1980)

In one of the scenes, Wendy (the mother, played by Shelley Duvall) wakes up to see her son Danny standing over her holding a knife. She then looks over to her mirror where the word 'Murder' is on the bathroom door. When the camera shot moves and zooms into the writing a sudden high pitched sound from violins is used to scared the audience and suggest that what is written is bad and will have consequences. "There are many terrifying things in Kubrick’s horror masterpiece. There’s the rattling, stabbing, jagged violins at key moments using music from Krzysztof Penderecki’s Polymorphia." (Kimpton, 2014)

Sound is also used in may other scenes in the film to give the sense of panic and sudden shock. An example is when Danny stops in front of the twin girls and visions of them having been murdered flash before his eyes. 

Bibliography:

Nathan, I. (2012). The Shining. [online] Empire. Available at: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/shining-2/review/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2017].

Kimpton, P. (2014). The Shining: the film that frightened me most | Peter Kimpton. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/24/the-shining-the-film-that-frightened-me-most [Accessed 29 Nov. 2017].

Illustration list:

Figure 1 - (1980) The Shining. At: http://horrornews.net/40547/film-review-the-shining-1980/ [Accessed on: 29 Nov. 2017]

Figure 2 - (1980) The Shining. At: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/176836722843714029/ [Accessed on: 29 Nov. 2017]

Figure 3 - (1980) The Shining. At: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-shining-redrum-theory [Accessed on: 29 Nov. 2017]