One of the genius things that Kubrick did in this movie, through clever editing, was to make the hallways impossible. If you try to plot out the floor plan from what is shown on film you'll find the hallways and rooms coexist in the same space and even go outside the possible structure of the hotel. Sub consciously we create maps of where we've been so we can find our way back, it's instinctive, and here those mental maps are impossible adding to a subconscious dread of something as ordinary as a hallway or a room.
Thanks for putting yourself through the wringer for our entertainment Chris. Really enjoyed your reaction to this. And I must admit I had a few laughs at your terror. It is a great film, Jack Nicholson is terrifying in this but I can't watch this film without thinking of the Simpsons "Treehouse of terror" homage to the film. Thanks again, Stay well.
Also, I hope you'll consider also doing a reaction to the sequel "Doctor Sleep" which came out only a few years ago - it's the rare sequel that manages to be 1) a really good film, 2) a worthy continuation of the characters/world, and 3) its own unique flavor that's not just a retread of the original.
"Not things that _anyone_ can notice, but things that people who *Shine* can see..." There are *SO* many details in this that *only* hit your subconscious, unsettling you but you don't _quite_ see - the impossibly laid out hotel, background characters out of focus, Jack + mirrors, cans on shelves, extra doors, etc, etc, and etc. To quote you, CasualNerd, "we often remember how something made us feel and not the details." But nevermind my reaction. *You're* the reactor, CasualNerd. You've _always_ been the reactor.
As someone who's father is a recovering alcoholic, this movie always fit what it's like living with what is called a "dry drunk", As a child if I did something to upset my dad he could go off in a rage that was at best irrational. Even tho he had been sober since I was born, he was an angry drunk. So it was like a drug addict having a flashback. His anger triggered him to react like he did when he drank even tho he was sober. So even tho Jack didn't have real alcohol, and only had visions of drinking, he would act and react like he might when drunk. Of course the Overlook would max that by 100.
It really comes through in the book as well, King himself having struggled with alcoholism and other substance abuse problems since he was about 18. An example he has given about how far it went is that he barely had any recollection of writing _Cujo._
Agree 100%. My dad was an alcoholic who stopped drinking and stayed clean about a year before I was born, but he could blow up and really show an almost irrational temper. We used to joke he could make a mountain out of a flat piece of ground, no molehill necessary.
Fascinating film with all sorts of details in the mise-en-scène. The hotel is its own sinister being and selectively consumes the souls of the most vulnerable to it. What I find most interesting is that the camera itself personifies the evil spirit of the Overlook as if it's constantly following as if chasing after those two most vulnerable, Danny and Jack and ultimately begins to control Jack like when Wendyvis reading Jack's "novel" and the camera moves behind her and Jack appears as if it is guiding him or when he's hacking into the bathroom door the camera follows Jack's swing of the axe so precisely as if the personified camera representing the Overlook is going, "I've got you! Kill! Kill:" There's an interesting documentary called ROOM 237 in which a lot of people theorize what the film's about. Some theories are quite engaging and some are quite bonkers Great reaction, Chris. Now you have to watch the sequel, DOCTOR SLEEP.
ROOM 237 is ....just insane crap. Lol To call it a documentary is being kind. It is someone's drung indiced fever dream. Lol I bought it without seeing it and.......now I own it. Lol
You know, I would love to see your reaction to the Swedish film Let The Right One In (Låt Den Rätte Komma In). It's one of my favourite thriller/horrors and not to spoil anything but the way it's paced resembles this style of slow paced creepy and raw.
"I wonder what the real Jack was like before coming here.." - I think its implied he was an abusive drunk. In the early scene Wendy displays all the signs of a gaslighted abuse victim, she makes excuses for jack hurting danny and always has a subtle 'fake happiness' thing going on, from the start she's clearly terrified of setting jack off.
When I watched The Shining as a kid, I thought Shelley Duvall was just a bad actress and was hamming it up too much. Once I watched it again as an adult with some not-so-great relationship experience under my belt, her performance hit me like a sledgehammer. Absolutely brilliant. She NAILED what walking on eggshells around an abusive partner is like.
I saw this theatrically with my parents when I was 12. The lady in the bathtub destroyed my brain. It’s a classic for a reason. Doctor Sleep is incredible.
This movie had a lot of production problems: Shelley Duvall lost most of her hair due to the stressful reshoots of her scenes involving swinging the bat at Jack Nicholson, which took 127 takes. Nicholson slept on the set between scenes. Duvall would get into arguments onset with Kubrick on how her scenes should be filmed. Scatman Crothers, whom played Dick Halloran, broke down crying after Kubrick filmed his scene in the kitchen 88 times and asked "What do you want from me Mr Kubrick!?" A fire broke out near the set where they were filming The Empire Strikes Back The hedge maze scene was the difficult and brutal as most of the crew would get lost in the maze. It would have taken them an hour to get out. Stephen King watched the film and hated the final cut as thought that Kubrick butchered the movie and removed some subplots that were in the novel, but in the script. King would never work with Kubrick ever again.
I only saw bits and pieces of this movie for 30 years. About 10 years ago I finally sat down and watched it fully and I was surprised how much I loved it! Wish I'd done it sooner.
I think part of what is making the movie so impactful for you is that it is, in part, about isolation, and that's something a lot of people have been through recently because of the pandemic.
In the Stephen King Universe, Dick Holloran (the cook) survived Pennywise the Clown 50 years prior, in the fire at the Black Spot, to being axed by Jack.
Now you've seen this you *have* to watch the 2012 documentary 'Room 237' to hear the batsh*t crazy theories that fans and 'experts' came up with to explain what the movie means and what subliminal messages Kubrick was supposed to be sending out. He wasn't he was just a fantastic film maker who didn't spoonfeed the audience and left enough to ambiguity and your own imagination. Whilst I'm glad you're watching 'Doctor Sleep' and it's a good movie, I suspect Stanley would've hated it as it's too clear cut.
There are tons of theories and extremely subtle bits to this classic . Many feel the hotel trips the souls of the people it controls and ultimately kill. Now that it has Jack, he really has ALWAYS been the caretaker so you see him in a photo from far in the past.
I love this movie. A hallmark in psychological horror. That being said, I also really like the book. We get into all the character's heads. Understanding how they all feel. And we also see Jack's slow descent into madness. How the overlook slowly pulls at the threads of his frayed mind.
I've compared the two over the years and I really think the book terrifies me more than the movie, but I agree that the movie is a classic. Jack Nicholson does a great job here, but he plays the father as a guy who already has one screw loose and who really only tolerates his wife and son, so it's not a big leap for him to go stir crazy in a creepy hotel and start killing people. The father in the book is a flawed man who deeply loves his son and is trying to mend his fractured relationship with his wife, but he ends up being gradually driven insane by the evil in the hotel until he loses himself and tries to kill his family. I feel so much empathy for book Jack that I don't feel for movie Jack and it makes what comes later so much more horrific.
According to Kubrick's film version of the Shining, The evil spirits that inhabited the Overlook Hotel would eventually drive Jack insane by way of drowning him in his alcoholism, past trauma, and fears of becoming as abusive as his father. As for the ending where we see a 1921 photograph of Jack, The photo at the very end suggests the reincarnation of Jack.That means that Jack Torrance is the reincarnation of a guest or someone on staff at the Overlook in 1921 "When i came here for my interview, it was as though I'd been here before" Grady to Jack: "you've always been here"
Tony is really Danny's spirit guide. He helps Danny when Danny doesn't understand something. Danny having the "shining" means he has a particular or more than one psychic ability.
The director tormented Shelly Duvall during the filming because he wanted her to be highly emotional at all times and even told the crew to never comfort her, she said in a more recent interview that she had days where she cried for 24 hours straight and this movie is thought to have triggered her mental health problems and eventually caused her to walk away from her successful movie career and she now lives in poverty and is almost unrecognizable. The book goes into a lot more detail about the people who have died in the motel, from what I remember it explains who the old lady in bathtub was and how she died. Kubrick was known for filming scenes over and over like the stair scene that was filmed 125 times, Scatman Crothers almost didn’t take the role because he had heard what Kubrick was like and he was an old man and didn’t think he could handle the constant filming of scenes. He was very concerned about filming his death scene over and over so Jack Nicholson spoke to Kubrick and got him to agree to a maximum of 10 takes of the scene. Apparently the kid who played Danny had no idea they were making a scary movie because he was shielded from all the scary stuff and didn’t find out until the movie premiered. Conspiracy theorists believe Kubrick left a lot of clues in this film that prove that he helped the U.S government fake the moon landing by directing it for them, they point out things like Danny’s Apollo 11 sweater and various other things and there is a documentary on UA-cam about the whole theory. I noticed in a more recent viewing of the movie that there is actually a door in Jack and Wendy’s bedroom that leads out into the hotel hallway so really Wendy could have just waited for Jack to break through the other door and then she and Danny could have ran out into the hallway and ran from Jack.
I mean how did the kid not realise he was starring in a horror movie? He had to act scared in like, 70% of the scenes he was in? Not to mention having to grab a knife to write “redrum” with his own blood on a door... the dialogue with him asking jack if he’d ever hurt him... shelly dragging him into the bathroom crying and screaming as jack axes down a door? 💀
It never caused her to walk away, she 20+ year career after the Shining and was very successful. She's also said despite everything she enjoyed that movie and Kubrick was nice to her, they just had their moments. Shelley looks like an old woman who aged normally, not "unrecognizable" she's 73 cut her some slack. I will admit she had a few years where she wasn't good financially but she's now a lot better in that department and is getting along fine. Please don't spread misinformation about her, thank you.
This movie is a masterpiece. I watch it every October and it gets better with every viewing. Though I have to say, watching this movie in 2020 really made this movie hit differently, with the lockdowns and isolation we all had to deal with. You wondered during the reaction if Danny knew how creepy it was...he actually didn't. Danny Lloyd said in an interview years later that he didn't see the movie until he was a teenager and that's when he found out it was a horror film. I guess Kubrick took great care to shield him from the darker elements...which is odd then that he was such a jerk to Shelly Duvall...but he was nice to the kid, so that's good. Also, my favorite piece of trivia from this movie is that the doors they built for Jack to tear down were made of a more flimsy wood, to make it easier for him to break down. But Jack Nicholson had trained as a volunteer firefighter before he became famous, and he tore them down too quickly with that ax...so, they had to build stronger doors! The ghosts in this movie are so creepy! The fact that they don't blink is so unsettling...so, even though Lloyd the bartender is pleasant and polite, something about him is always off. *and 90's kids, prepare to have your minds blown, cause I sure did...if you've seen the classic Boy Meets World episode "And then there was Shawn", the creepy Janitor is played by none other than the actor who played Lloyd!*
I see the Overlook as similar to the one ring from the Lord of the Rings in that it should be treated as another character. It is able to find weakness and exploit it so as it can add to its eternal staff. Jack has a temper and doesn't take responsibility for it. He blames others when he lashes out and the hotel amplifies and empathises his shortcomings to drive him mad
This whole movie DID have me confused. I don't remember what, but I've read the book explains things a little more. And this is another movie where the director was harsh with the lead actress. I've read Kubrick wanted Shelley Duvall's reactions to be authentic, so, if I remember right, he didn't tell her how Jack was going to get to her and Danny in the bathroom before they filmed that scene. So her reaction when the axe breaks through the door was genuine terror. I think she may have had a nervous breakdown after the movie wrapped.
When Jack lost his mind he joined the party. He was not in the photo before he was integrated into ghost history, where time is quite flexible. He was not around in 1921, he simply joined the ghost party. 101 years ago!
Ghosts and psychic phenomena exist outside of time and outside of normal cause and effect. The hotel seduced Jack and Jack died there, so his soul now remains at the hotel; he is now one of the spirits. Since he is now part of the hotel, the photograph shows that he has always been part of the hotel. Jack states that during his job interview he felt comfortable and knowledgeable about the hotel. Psychic phenomena do not obey the linear a true of normal time; an event from the past can manifest in the present, and an event in the present can ripple through to the past.
The music was done by Grammy Award-winning composer Wendy Carlos. In addition to "The Shining," she worked with Kubrick on "A Clockwork Orange," and also did the music for the original "Tron" film. She's a pioneer of electronic music and helped develop the Moog synthesizer, which had an enormous impact on music in the late 1960s and throughout the '70s. Your reaction to her outstanding work in this film is so satisfying to watch because I agree that the sound design (not merely the music) is crucial to making "The Shining" what it is.
@@BubbaCoop Wendy Carlos also created "Rocky Mountains", the piece heard when the family is motoring to the hotel (i.e., Donner Party chat). Really effective music that adds to the film's mounting tension.
In the novel, Tony is actually Danny’s middle name. His shine presents itself to him as Tony. It’s like his inner monologue. Dr. Sleep is the sequel and also worth the watch and read.
Congrats... I think Danny was using the maze exactly as HE needed, and Jack's refusal to go in made it the perfect death-field. The book is fairly different and worth reading. I think most folks lose the concept for hallucinations being used so often... or were they hauntings? Either way...
My biggest complaint is that, IF there's a lot to unpack (yes there is), it's because Kubrick wanted them OR was unable to complete his film sufficiently for a better explanation. In that way, it's probably a sucky film - a film terribly unrealized.
Before anyone else starts leaving comments about how "The Shining destroyed Shelley Duvall", take her own words from Fangoria 2011: "Oh, Stanley really gets a bad reputation sometimes but he was a perfectionist. We had our moments when we laughed and joked around on set, but then there were times that we just exploded at each other! I’m a very stubborn person and don’t like being bossed around and told what to do, Stanley pushed and pushed to get the performance out of me that he wanted." Shelley has said time and again that Kubrick was kind to her and they simply had her moments because she was stubborn and didn't like to be bossed around. Does that excuse how he treated her? No. But Shelley always talks about him warmly, even as recent as a year ago. This movie didn't ruin her, or her career. She thrived 22 years after this film and won awards for her performances and her children's programming and retired in 2002. She currently lives in Texas with her partner Dan and is very happy with herself, her career, and her life and has gotten much better in recent years. And for people who say she's aged horrible? She's 73, people age, they don't stay young forever. She's a beautiful woman inside and out and people really need to stop spreading misinformation about her.
Thank you for that. Every time this movie comes up, it's like there's this flood of certain topics that rise up instantly, one of them being Shelley's poor treatment at the hands of a sadist. People have verbally crucified Stanley enough over this nonsense. There's also the wackadoo conspiracy theories about this movie; many Americans seem to feast on stuff like that, sadly. It's something of a rabbit hole with this film. Kind of scary that people believe such things.
@@eduardo_corrochio Stanley did treat her horribly, and I do very much believe it SHOULD be brought up when it's relevant but the fact that people just make up things about it and don't listen to Shelley herself is so frustrating :(
That is a good comment. It is so disrespectful to Shelley Duvall to say 'Oh she wasn't acting, she was genuinely traumatized,' as if Kubrick could have dragged some random woman off the street and got the same performance just by mistreating her. Duvall was a very skilled actress.
If I have learned anything from watching horror films, it’s to never build anything on top of an Indian burial ground. Or any type of burial ground actually.
I've been dying to see what you thought of this one! Even though Stephen King has been very vocal about disliking this adaptation, this to me represents the kind of horror films I enjoy. Slasher horror relies mostly on the gore factor, and modern American horror in general relies on cheap jump scares. To me this is just lazy. Psychological slow burn horror takes quality writing and acting to work, and The Shining does it beautifully. Doctor Sleep is a very worthy sequel, one of the few horror sequels I feel is worth its salt.
@@CasualNerdReactions Then you need to check out more Japanese and Korean films, which use your imagination and suspense in a way if you have done since the days of Hitchcock, where the anticipation of a scare is far worse than the actual scare. Hideo Nakata was great at this with Dark Water and Ringu (The Ring), followed by others like Ju-on: The Grudge and Pulse. Most of these have been remade as American films but the originals are far better. This is the kind of horror that literally makes me full-on shudder hours after watching it. These days there are much higher budget films made in Asia, such as Train to Busan and The Host, but I kind of prefer the simpler stories with more subtle creepiness.
One of the reasons I watch your videos is you are very good company. The second reason is it gives me a look at some movies I have heard a lot about but never seen. I don't watch horror movies. At best they make me laugh and at worst they bore me. So thank you for the peek at "The Shining." I don't think you are supposed to understand what's going on. I think there is no explanation. The audience is to be very frightened and very confused and left to speculate endlessly. BTW my uncle had an imaginary friend. He was a very nice boy.
CHRIS! Try DRAGONFLY, it's a slow burn at times but made my skin crawl in a good way. Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates ...fun!😱😃 Please don't spoil the fun by researching the movie like some reactors do, I think you'll appreciate this one that isn't often reacted to😃
Party scene, right after the server bumps into him and before the bathroom scene....a woman walks by from the right with a bloody handprint on her ass. Missed that for DECADES.
"Here's Johnny!" (Apologizes for the late post. I was out all day yesterday. Go in Peace and Walk with God.) Fun Fact: As he lived in England, Stanley Kubrick was not at all familiar with the "Heeeeere's Johnny" line (from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)) that Jack Nicholson improvised. He very nearly didn't use it. Hot Take Fact: There is a great deal of confusion regarding this film and the number of retakes of certain scenes. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the scene where Wendy is backing up the stairs swinging the baseball bat was shot 127 times, which is a record for the most takes of a single scene. However, both Steadicam operator Garrett Brown and assistant editor Gordon Stainforth say this is inaccurate. The scene was shot about thirty-five to forty-five times. Method Director Fact: Despite Stanley Kubrick's fierce demands on everyone, Jack Nicholson admitted to having a good working relationship with him. It was with Shelley Duvall that he was a completely different director. He allegedly picked on her more than anyone else. He would really lose his temper with her, even going so far as to say that she was wasting the time of everyone on the set. She later reflected that he was probably pushing her to her limits to get the best out of her, and that she wouldn't trade the experience for anything, but it was not something she ever wished to repeat.
I'm not a fan of The Shining. I find it hammy and ham-fisted. I find the kid annoying rather than spooky. Jack chews the scenery, snivelling Shelley is poor (and reportedly going through a bad time in her own life). The hotel set design is remarkable, but the ghostly events within its walls are shaky, and the substance of the storytelling is sacrificed for Kubrick's overwrought style. 4/10 for me. Glad you enjoyed it, though, Chris. Horror, like comedy, is personal and if it works for someone then it's a success. The Shining has legions off fans so must have worked for lots of people, just not for me. .
I might be way off, and too literal, here, but I believe that the key is the scene in the restroom between Delbert Grady and Jack. And maybe the Indian spirits at the hotel that are manifesting through Delbert Grady's ghost, and Jack, speaking to each other. It involves reincarnation. When Jack asks Delbert Grady if he were the caretaker there, before, he was flashing on his past life in 1921 when Grady was the butler and Jack was the caretaker, (Delbert said Jack was the caretaker there, and that he'd always been there). And Jack thinking he'd seen Delbert's photo in the papers of the murderer in the 1970 hotel killings. But that was Charles Grady, the caretaker, then. It wasn't Jack, as he was living and working in Denver. Charles was the murderer. Jack was also having flashbacks to his past life in the illusionary ballroom party scene, (leading to the restroom scene), that actually occurred in 1921, as depicted in that last scene which shows him in that same 4th of July Ball photo.
Kubrick's masterful adaptation of King's epic novel (while the author has notoriously debunked it ; he's nuts - the book is unwieldy - fuck's sake he dedicates an entire chapter to the goddamn boiler!) is one of the greatest horror films of all-time with iconic performances by Jack & Shelley.
If you're interested in a more conventional linear version, it was remade as a 4hr tv event. More faithful to the book but no Kubrick. I prefer the show-dont-tell style, same as I preferred 2001 the film more than Arthur Clarke's novelization.
The original title of the book was "The Shine." But along the way his publisher (I think) told Stephen King that this title wasn't going to work because a "shine" was an unflattering term for an African American. King had not known this and realized he could slightly modify the title.
Its the music that takes it over the edge... Stanley Kubrick could mix his score like an artist palette, pulling themed songs and incidental sound scapes amongst recognizable almost cliched classical 2001 had the Stauss Blue Danube and that over the too chorale, Clockwork Orange had an electronic Beethoven Ode to Joy, and here the opening Dies Irea and Bartoks Music for strings, percussion and celeste....youll never hear them the same again.
The lady in the bathtub was his former wife that he strangled. That’s why she strangles people that come in there. That’s the marks on Danny’s neck. It was her. Not Jack. I read the book. It goes into more detail. The book is terrifying!
I hope that you decide to see all of Kubrick’s films (not including Spartacus, since he doesn’t include it in his work)…in any event, *they’re all classics*
If anyone here is interested, Grimmlifecollective recently posted a video where they hung out with Shelley Duvall and asked her some questions. It was a pleasant surprise and I was glad to see Shelly seems to be doing well.
My preferred interpretation is that the hotel isn't 'haunted'; it's alive, and it eats people. That's why the twins from the story about Mr Grady are twins instead of 8 and 10 like in the story, that's why Mr Grady's first name is wrong, that's why furniture and walls and carpeting move around in the background, and that's why Jack has 'always' been here. On an in-universe level, the hotel is an eldritch horror that lures in people with psychic abiliies to consume them, and then remixes them into whatever puppets it wants to play with. Mr Halloran and Danny are too strong to just go along with its manipulations completely, so it has to persuade Jack to 'add them to its roster'. On a metaphorical level, the hotel represents the violence and the cycle of abuse, which is why there are so many genocide references in the film, and why Danny defeats Jack by leading him into a maze that he already knows his way out of. Danny has recognized that his father's behaviour is unacceptable and a result of an inability to deal with the emotional scars of the past, and he's decided not to be that kind of man. They're just like pictures in a book; you don't have to let them affect how you treat other people in the here and now.
I don't know if Steven King or Stanley Kubrick intended this, but the story can be seen partly as an allegory about domestic abuse fueled by alcohol. Jack has a history of abuse, which he partly denies. Wendy is beaten down, and is also in denial. Neither has really addressed Jack's behavior, so when there's nothing to keep him in check, he reverts and becomes even worse than he was before. One thing that not many reactors comment on is that Wendy does all the work of caring for the hotel. Jack just types. He gets really angry about fulfilling his responsibilities, but then, he doesn't fulfill his responsibilities. Wendy does that for him. Kubrick was very hard on Shelley Duvall during the filming. He shot over a hundred takes of the scene on the stairs to get the terror and confusion that he wanted in her performance. She said later that the stress was so great that her hair started to fall out. In the scenes where Jack is chopping through the doors, Kubrick originally used flimsy prop doors. But Nicholson had training as a firefighter, and his blows were so forceful that he broke the doors to pieces too quickly. Kubrick switched to regular solid doors to get the effect he wanted. I agree that the sound design had a lot to do with the terror and suspense of this movie. So did the visual design. For instance, the low-angle shots of Danny riding his big wheel tricycle through the halls looked really creepy.
Curious what made you nervous about watching it if you didn't know anything about it? General reputation? Did you see Ready Player One? Spielberg had an incredible digital re-creation of the hotel. Including the film grain.
Excellent movie, but not the same as the novel. King did not like this adaption. Whereas it had terrifying imagery, it was not faithful. I liked the book and envisioned the Overlook much as Kubrick had. There was a Topiary instead of a maze. A good read.
31:45 well the first one was they built it on an Indian burial ground one of the care takers killed themself, the Grady guy killed his family then blew his head off, then they temporally made a camp there and every Friday the 13th a guy called Jason comes to visit, and month after that they made a room for zombie orphans... And vampire puppies.
This is such a hard movie to explain the premise for (imagine that it was directed by Stanley Kubrick and it is hard to explain, who would ever think?). Imagine a funnel. At the wide end you have time and at the narrow end you have the Overlook Hotel. The hotel kind of reaches out through time and pulls whoever it can grab down through the funnel and into itself wherein the hotel kind of becomes a world in itself. It also warps the personalities and the identities of its victims. The personality that was Charles Grady at the wide end of the funnel becomes Delbert Grady when it goes through the narrow end of the funnel. The personality that was Jack Torrance at the wide end of the funnel more than likely has a different name in the photograph since it has now gone through the funnel. It's like the hotel turns people into funhouse images of themselves on a psychological level when it consumes them.
You should check out some of the "theories" about this film (especially the "Wendy theory ua-cam.com/video/wRr_0W-9hWg/v-deo.html). Kubrick is so deliberate with everything in all of his movies, that this is a theory I think might actually have a bit of legs. And I usually HATE conspiracy theories and such, but it actually makes a little sense....
Kubrick is human and there was bound to be inconsistencies in this movie, just because he was careful and perfectionist doesn't mean he's not bound to make errors. The whole thing also comes off as super victim blame-y and it uses a lot of wording abusers use to describe their victims to keep them in line. And, Wendy is an abuse victim.
I elect we use "corrected" to mean "chopped" from now on!! Waiter: Can I get you something to start? Me: Yes, how about a nice corrected salad with Italian dressing.
The score was done by Wendy Carlos, a transgender woman who basically pioneered electronic/synthesized music. Rachel Elkind also assisted with the score
There was very little score. It was mostly existing orchestral music. The title sequence was Carlos, a synth version of Berlioz's Symphoie Fantastique, which uses the Dies Irie which itself is a melody believed to be over a thousand years old.
The only one that had it easy filming was the kid. Kubrick treated the kid better than the adults. Scatman cruthers admitted that he needed therapy for a while afterwards due to how Kubrick treated them. But the worst was poor Shelly Duvall. Last part of the movie Wendy wasn't 'acting' Kubrick treated her worse than crap. Insults threats ignoring her on set and he got all the cast and crew to do it too. She didn't recover from the ordeal and still has mental issues. Not to mention how many times they made jack Nicholson fall down those stairs
I don't mean this in a bad way but I find it hard to believe a lot of reactors on UA-cam who must have seen some of these movies before... Just something I notice in these first time reactions. I enjoy watching though and you put all the best plot points together so it feels like I'm watching the whole movie
I feel the same way towards a lot of reactors actually. It’s hard to fathom! For me, my dad was a pastor with very few exceptions I never watched R rated films prior to starting the channel.
Very perceptive about the Dissociation & "creating another personality". I realized that aspect several years ago. You're the only reactor I've watched reacting to this movie, that realized that. None of the others have known what to make of that. Wendy's response to intense fear & trauma is to go to sleep. She has been married to & living with a toxic, gaslighting narcissist, & violent abusive alcoholic for several years. When he asked her what she was doing down there, after discovering what he'd been writing, she is so panicked, she says she can't remember. This signifies to me that she was probably abused as a child as well. Women who were abused as children, are often targeted & preyed on by controlling abusive narcissistic men, who have no real respect for women, & who just want someone who is easy to control. I know from firsthand personal experience, that Childhood Abuse & Trauma, often damages a person's cognition & executive function. They have trouble organizing thought, & therefore making decisions. Which makes functioning in everyday life very difficult, much less in extreme circumstances. And the mental gymnastics it takes, when you have cognitive & executive function disorder, to try to organize your thoughts, causes chronic fatigue & extreme exhaustion. You worry & stew a lot more over things, because things are a lot harder for you to solve. Your responses to questions & everyday situations, even or especially life threatening situations, are slow & off. Lifelong abuse causes you to become stuck in flight mode, so panic becomes your default. So when she should be scooping up her child & at the very least locking herself in another room in the hotel, far away from their room, to stay safe, since there seems to be no way of escape, instead she cries, & explains what she's going to do, & ends up going to sleep in the same room they've been staying in. Though to be fair, she had Jack locked in the pantry, so she probably thought she was safe for a few hours, to gather her wits & regroup. She also could have, theoretically anyway, shut the bathroom window, smashed out the glass, & then climbed out. The scenes with the hotel flooding with blood, has to do with all the blood that's been shed on the property. In the book, Elites had free for alls, drug & alcohol induced parties, & cult rituals, & performed human sacrifices. The movie eludes to this with the blood flooding scenes, the people partying in the bar & ballroom, & with the men having sex in animal costume. The movie includes the theme of cursed Indian burial grounds as a factor. All of which means the landed has been cursed & corrupted by all the bloodshed. So both the hotel itself, & the land as a whole, are haunted & possessed. The book/movie Rose Red by Stephen King, is another story/example of cursed land with a possessed house. The book/movie Christine, by Stephen King, is about a cursed/possessed car. Probably derived from the legend of James Dean's car, which was said to be cursed/possessed. The Stephen King novel/movie, Pet Cemetery, is about Indian Burial ground that is cursed/possessed, & which has the ability to resurrect the dead, who rise to also become cursed/possessed. It's a recurring theme in Stephen King's work... But there's usually an element, of some thread of hope, running through it as well...
Thanks for this; it was a very enjoyable watch. I liked seeing your take on a thriller that I have always held in high esteem. The Shining is so unsettling, and just keeps bubbling up with tension. Kubrick took a solid horror novel and jettisoned certain things but added some sensational ones. This is a movie that I go back to now and again because it is made so well in many respects. Like "The Exorcist", it's just quality cinema. Also: I like the entire soundtrack, from the esoteric classical stuff to the nightmarish electronic creations to "Midnight, The Stars and You" by Ray Noble and His Orchestra (vocals by Al Bowlly). As to the mysterious photograph at the final scene, I personally like to leave that ambiguous. Maybe the hotel wanted Jack and finally claimed him, I don't know. I can't get into trying to figure it all out; I just like this movie a lot because I enjoy being frightened and I appreciate film techniques. I'm subscribing to your channel.
I really enjoyed your reaction. Great spooky choice for the Halloween season! Also, don’t overthink the ending with timelines etc. For whatever reason, Jack fits right in with the damned spirits in the Overlook, and always has.
If you want to watch a horror movie based on true events check out The Ghost and the Darkness. If you want an action type to get a break react to either the 2012 DREDD or James Cameron The Abyss.
At the end, when Jack was in the picture, it probably supernaturally changed from Grady to Jack. Of course, the mysteries of this movie are probably mostly supernatural. Things don't make sense, but somehow it adds to the horror of the film. I believe that Jack only liked the hotel in the beginning and became what he was because he was inherently prone to becoming that way. The true nature of the families characters was just highlighted as the movie progressed. Some things will be mysteries, but it makes for good horror. Thank you.
I tried reading the book during a snowstorm…one of the biggest regrets of my life lol…the book focused so much on the isolation due to the storm I couldn’t finish it….also poor Shelly she went through so much for this movie :(
So did Scatman Crothers, who broke down crying asking Kubrick what he wanted after doing countless takes of the ice cream scene, and he did over 60 takes of getting the axe in his chest until Jack Nicholson went to Kubrick and intervened. EVERYONE had a hard time on EVERY Kubrick movie. Ken Adam had a heart attack from the stress of working on Kubrick's previous film, "Barry Lyndon". On Clockwork Orange, Malcom McDowell suffered broken ribs, a ripped cornea, had to get spat in the face countless times until it landed just right....and David Prowse had to do countless takes of carrying that wheelchair (with the writer in it) over and over again until he was exhausted. Shelley Winters had a hard shoot on "Lolita". As Michael Herr says, "Everyone worked hard on Kubrick films, but no one worked harder than Stanley." The Shelley Duvall stories are way overblown and exaggerated. She bounced back fine, she played Olive Oyl in "Popeye" right afterwards and produced the groundbreaking series "Fairy Tale Theatre" throughout the 80s (unheard of for a woman). Her subsequent mental issues have nothing to do with The Shining. The thing that hurt her most about the Shining wasn't Kubrick (who she has always spoken highly of), but the reaction to her performance. It's only NOW - ie: the last ten years or so - that people appreciate her performance, it's been maligned all these years.
I want to start off saying I do enjoy this movie. It is well acted and well done. However it is not a true, faithful adaptation of the book which is phenomenal and I highly recommend you read the book sometime. The ending is very different in the book, and in my opinion, better. The book also answers some of the questions you raised. I really did enjoy your reaction to this film. Your horror reactions especially, are so much fun. Good job.
Book is great, terrifying.....and completely different. EXCEPT: for the atmosphere. Kubrick was great in capturing the feeling of the writing in all of his adaptations, rendering the writing in cinematic terms. An achievement that not many talk about! The plot points are almost entirely different in the book....but the FEELING is exactly the same! Great movie, great book.
1:42, interestingly enough, Ridley Scott used footage from this movie, in other words, the opening scene, that would be used in the BLADE RUNNER ending credits.
“Can he even get drunk off of imaginary alcohol?”
Of course, they’re spirits.
ba dum tss
.........rimshot!
😂
One of the best comments on my whole channel
Comedic gold.
“Jack is sober, and hopefully that continues throughout this movie and nothing bad happens to anyone for any reason.” Love the optimism 😊
😅 that’s some quality false optimism right there.
Lol
@@CasualNerdReactions Everything will be fine…
@@Bfdidc haha love it.
@@CasualNerdReactions or, considering this a famous horror movie based on a Stephen King novel, total denial? 😁
Thanks for watching! Watch My Doctor Sleep reaction here: ua-cam.com/video/iOVvPsw5zjg/v-deo.html
One of the genius things that Kubrick did in this movie, through clever editing, was to make the hallways impossible. If you try to plot out the floor plan from what is shown on film you'll find the hallways and rooms coexist in the same space and even go outside the possible structure of the hotel. Sub consciously we create maps of where we've been so we can find our way back, it's instinctive, and here those mental maps are impossible adding to a subconscious dread of something as ordinary as a hallway or a room.
oh nice! glad you are checking out Doctor Sleep as well!!
@@gallendugall8913 there's a documentary, Room 237 that covers that among other things
What did you think about the little furry kink scene there? 🤣
Thanks for putting yourself through the wringer for our entertainment Chris.
Really enjoyed your reaction to this. And I must admit I had a few laughs at your terror.
It is a great film, Jack Nicholson is terrifying in this but I can't watch this film without thinking of the Simpsons "Treehouse of terror" homage to the film.
Thanks again, Stay well.
That "TUESDAY" jumpscare is such a delightful moment - it's like Kubrick saying "I'm already playing you like a piano." :)
Also, I hope you'll consider also doing a reaction to the sequel "Doctor Sleep" which came out only a few years ago - it's the rare sequel that manages to be 1) a really good film, 2) a worthy continuation of the characters/world, and 3) its own unique flavor that's not just a retread of the original.
Doctor sleep coming tomorrow :)
@@CasualNerdReactions Aha, duh, I totally missed that. :P Looking forward to it!
"Not things that _anyone_ can notice, but things that people who *Shine* can see..."
There are *SO* many details in this that *only* hit your subconscious, unsettling you but you don't _quite_ see - the impossibly laid out hotel, background characters out of focus, Jack + mirrors, cans on shelves, extra doors, etc, etc, and etc.
To quote you, CasualNerd, "we often remember how something made us feel and not the details."
But nevermind my reaction. *You're* the reactor, CasualNerd. You've _always_ been the reactor.
Cue photo of me in 1966 black and white tv still reacting to 1930s cinema.
@@CasualNerdReactions Lol
😄
For me, it was the score, atmosphere and vibe that made this movie memorable (also Jack Nicholson’s performance).
@@CasualNerdReactions Is Dracula showing on the late show?
As someone who's father is a recovering alcoholic, this movie always fit what it's like living with what is called a "dry drunk", As a child if I did something to upset my dad he could go off in a rage that was at best irrational. Even tho he had been sober since I was born, he was an angry drunk. So it was like a drug addict having a flashback. His anger triggered him to react like he did when he drank even tho he was sober. So even tho Jack didn't have real alcohol, and only had visions of drinking, he would act and react like he might when drunk. Of course the Overlook would max that by 100.
It really comes through in the book as well, King himself having struggled with alcoholism and other substance abuse problems since he was about 18. An example he has given about how far it went is that he barely had any recollection of writing _Cujo._
Agree 100%. My dad was an alcoholic who stopped drinking and stayed clean about a year before I was born, but he could blow up and really show an almost irrational temper. We used to joke he could make a mountain out of a flat piece of ground, no molehill necessary.
Fascinating film with all sorts of details in the mise-en-scène. The hotel is its own sinister being and selectively consumes the souls of the most vulnerable to it. What I find most interesting is that the camera itself personifies the evil spirit of the Overlook as if it's constantly following as if chasing after those two most vulnerable, Danny and Jack and ultimately begins to control Jack like when Wendyvis reading Jack's "novel" and the camera moves behind her and Jack appears as if it is guiding him or when he's hacking into the bathroom door the camera follows Jack's swing of the axe so precisely as if the personified camera representing the Overlook is going, "I've got you! Kill! Kill:"
There's an interesting documentary called ROOM 237 in which a lot of people theorize what the film's about. Some theories are quite engaging and some are quite bonkers
Great reaction, Chris. Now you have to watch the sequel, DOCTOR SLEEP.
Yes! The camera work is absolutely incredible. As for doctor sleep, stay tuned! Full length will be posted tomorrow and the edit coming soonish.
ROOM 237 is ....just insane crap. Lol
To call it a documentary is being kind. It is someone's drung indiced fever dream. Lol
I bought it without seeing it and.......now I own it. Lol
the documentary is really cool
You know, I would love to see your reaction to the Swedish film Let The Right One In (Låt Den Rätte Komma In). It's one of my favourite thriller/horrors and not to spoil anything but the way it's paced resembles this style of slow paced creepy and raw.
such a great movie
Hey I don't know that one, but thanks for the tip.
Had to watch it again this year. So good.
Love that movie :)
"I wonder what the real Jack was like before coming here.." - I think its implied he was an abusive drunk. In the early scene Wendy displays all the signs of a gaslighted abuse victim, she makes excuses for jack hurting danny and always has a subtle 'fake happiness' thing going on, from the start she's clearly terrified of setting jack off.
When I watched The Shining as a kid, I thought Shelley Duvall was just a bad actress and was hamming it up too much. Once I watched it again as an adult with some not-so-great relationship experience under my belt, her performance hit me like a sledgehammer. Absolutely brilliant. She NAILED what walking on eggshells around an abusive partner is like.
I saw this theatrically with my parents when I was 12. The lady in the bathtub destroyed my brain. It’s a classic for a reason. Doctor Sleep is incredible.
I agree, Dr. Sleep is amazing.
@@GaryLBlakeley Respectfully disagree.
I would feel bad for any kid that saw that scene. Nothing good could come from that. Serious.
That scene in the book sent me to continue reading in a room where I wasn't alone. Few books do that.
The naked old lady in the tub scared the crap out of me. The Bavarian triggered my ptsd caused by the old lady from this movie
This movie had a lot of production problems:
Shelley Duvall lost most of her hair due to the stressful reshoots of her scenes involving swinging the bat at Jack Nicholson, which took 127 takes.
Nicholson slept on the set between scenes.
Duvall would get into arguments onset with Kubrick on how her scenes should be filmed.
Scatman Crothers, whom played Dick Halloran, broke down crying after Kubrick filmed his scene in the kitchen 88 times and asked "What do you want from me Mr Kubrick!?"
A fire broke out near the set where they were filming The Empire Strikes Back
The hedge maze scene was the difficult and brutal as most of the crew would get lost in the maze. It would have taken them an hour to get out.
Stephen King watched the film and hated the final cut as thought that Kubrick butchered the movie and removed some subplots that were in the novel, but in the script. King would never work with Kubrick ever again.
Wow Indeed! I knew King hated the film, but didn’t know all the rest. Bonkers.
And that's why I'm not a fan of Kubrick. Sadistic director 🙁
I only saw bits and pieces of this movie for 30 years. About 10 years ago I finally sat down and watched it fully and I was surprised how much I loved it! Wish I'd done it sooner.
Yes! There’s several movies I’ve felt that way about.
I think part of what is making the movie so impactful for you is that it is, in part, about isolation, and that's something a lot of people have been through recently because of the pandemic.
In the Stephen King Universe, Dick Holloran (the cook) survived Pennywise the Clown 50 years prior, in the fire at the Black Spot, to being axed by Jack.
Well he survives in the book.
Now you've seen this you *have* to watch the 2012 documentary 'Room 237' to hear the batsh*t crazy theories that fans and 'experts' came up with to explain what the movie means and what subliminal messages Kubrick was supposed to be sending out. He wasn't he was just a fantastic film maker who didn't spoonfeed the audience and left enough to ambiguity and your own imagination. Whilst I'm glad you're watching 'Doctor Sleep' and it's a good movie, I suspect Stanley would've hated it as it's too clear cut.
I’ve been meaning to watch room 237. It sounds fascinating. I enjoyed doctor sleep a lot and I can’t wait to drop the reaction tomorrow.
There are tons of theories and extremely subtle bits to this classic . Many feel the hotel trips the souls of the people it controls and ultimately kill. Now that it has Jack, he really has ALWAYS been the caretaker so you see him in a photo from far in the past.
So interesting to contemplate.
yeah that is my take as well, the hotel absorbs the souls of the people who dies there and makes them part of it's own history.
I love this movie. A hallmark in psychological horror.
That being said, I also really like the book. We get into all the character's heads. Understanding how they all feel.
And we also see Jack's slow descent into madness. How the overlook slowly pulls at the threads of his frayed mind.
I've compared the two over the years and I really think the book terrifies me more than the movie, but I agree that the movie is a classic. Jack Nicholson does a great job here, but he plays the father as a guy who already has one screw loose and who really only tolerates his wife and son, so it's not a big leap for him to go stir crazy in a creepy hotel and start killing people. The father in the book is a flawed man who deeply loves his son and is trying to mend his fractured relationship with his wife, but he ends up being gradually driven insane by the evil in the hotel until he loses himself and tries to kill his family. I feel so much empathy for book Jack that I don't feel for movie Jack and it makes what comes later so much more horrific.
@@Kayjee17 Agreed. I felt the mini-series did a good job with showing Jack's struggles & his descent into madness.
According to Kubrick's film version of the Shining, The evil spirits that inhabited the Overlook Hotel would eventually drive Jack insane by way of drowning him in his alcoholism, past trauma, and fears of becoming as abusive as his father.
As for the ending where we see a 1921 photograph of Jack, The photo at the very end suggests the reincarnation of Jack.That means that Jack Torrance is the reincarnation of a guest or someone on staff at the Overlook in 1921
"When i came here for my interview, it was as though I'd been here before"
Grady to Jack: "you've always been here"
Or as Jack died in the service of the Overlook, the hotel absorbed him into it's own history and thus making him "always been part of the hotel".
@@Henrik_Holst I agree with your comment. Grady was talking to the energy possessing Jack when he said that, not to Jack directly.
Tony is really Danny's spirit guide. He helps Danny when Danny doesn't understand something. Danny having the "shining" means he has a particular or more than one psychic ability.
The director tormented Shelly Duvall during the filming because he wanted her to be highly emotional at all times and even told the crew to never comfort her, she said in a more recent interview that she had days where she cried for 24 hours straight and this movie is thought to have triggered her mental health problems and eventually caused her to walk away from her successful movie career and she now lives in poverty and is almost unrecognizable.
The book goes into a lot more detail about the people who have died in the motel, from what I remember it explains who the old lady in bathtub was and how she died.
Kubrick was known for filming scenes over and over like the stair scene that was filmed 125 times, Scatman Crothers almost didn’t take the role because he had heard what Kubrick was like and he was an old man and didn’t think he could handle the constant filming of scenes. He was very concerned about filming his death scene over and over so Jack Nicholson spoke to Kubrick and got him to agree to a maximum of 10 takes of the scene.
Apparently the kid who played Danny had no idea they were making a scary movie because he was shielded from all the scary stuff and didn’t find out until the movie premiered.
Conspiracy theorists believe Kubrick left a lot of clues in this film that prove that he helped the U.S government fake the moon landing by directing it for them, they point out things like Danny’s Apollo 11 sweater and various other things and there is a documentary on UA-cam about the whole theory.
I noticed in a more recent viewing of the movie that there is actually a door in Jack and Wendy’s bedroom that leads out into the hotel hallway so really Wendy could have just waited for Jack to break through the other door and then she and Danny could have ran out into the hallway and ran from Jack.
I mean how did the kid not realise he was starring in a horror movie? He had to act scared in like, 70% of the scenes he was in? Not to mention having to grab a knife to write “redrum” with his own blood on a door... the dialogue with him asking jack if he’d ever hurt him... shelly dragging him into the bathroom crying and screaming as jack axes down a door? 💀
@@sarads7877 + good questions. But at least in the movie, he didn't write it in his own blood. He wrote it in red lipstick...
It never caused her to walk away, she 20+ year career after the Shining and was very successful. She's also said despite everything she enjoyed that movie and Kubrick was nice to her, they just had their moments. Shelley looks like an old woman who aged normally, not "unrecognizable" she's 73 cut her some slack. I will admit she had a few years where she wasn't good financially but she's now a lot better in that department and is getting along fine. Please don't spread misinformation about her, thank you.
This movie is a masterpiece. I watch it every October and it gets better with every viewing. Though I have to say, watching this movie in 2020 really made this movie hit differently, with the lockdowns and isolation we all had to deal with.
You wondered during the reaction if Danny knew how creepy it was...he actually didn't. Danny Lloyd said in an interview years later that he didn't see the movie until he was a teenager and that's when he found out it was a horror film. I guess Kubrick took great care to shield him from the darker elements...which is odd then that he was such a jerk to Shelly Duvall...but he was nice to the kid, so that's good.
Also, my favorite piece of trivia from this movie is that the doors they built for Jack to tear down were made of a more flimsy wood, to make it easier for him to break down. But Jack Nicholson had trained as a volunteer firefighter before he became famous, and he tore them down too quickly with that ax...so, they had to build stronger doors!
The ghosts in this movie are so creepy! The fact that they don't blink is so unsettling...so, even though Lloyd the bartender is pleasant and polite, something about him is always off. *and 90's kids, prepare to have your minds blown, cause I sure did...if you've seen the classic Boy Meets World episode "And then there was Shawn", the creepy Janitor is played by none other than the actor who played Lloyd!*
I see the Overlook as similar to the one ring from the Lord of the Rings in that it should be treated as another character. It is able to find weakness and exploit it so as it can add to its eternal staff. Jack has a temper and doesn't take responsibility for it. He blames others when he lashes out and the hotel amplifies and empathises his shortcomings to drive him mad
This whole movie DID have me confused. I don't remember what, but I've read the book explains things a little more. And this is another movie where the director was harsh with the lead actress. I've read Kubrick wanted Shelley Duvall's reactions to be authentic, so, if I remember right, he didn't tell her how Jack was going to get to her and Danny in the bathroom before they filmed that scene. So her reaction when the axe breaks through the door was genuine terror. I think she may have had a nervous breakdown after the movie wrapped.
Now watch The Wendy Theory on UA-cam and rewatch The Shining.
Mind f’ckery.
"They're talking now...cool cool cool cool" 😂😂😂
Nervous rambles 🤣
When Jack lost his mind he joined the party. He was not in the photo before he was integrated into ghost history, where time is quite flexible. He was not around in 1921, he simply joined the ghost party. 101 years ago!
Ghosts and psychic phenomena exist outside of time and outside of normal cause and effect. The hotel seduced Jack and Jack died there, so his soul now remains at the hotel; he is now one of the spirits. Since he is now part of the hotel, the photograph shows that he has always been part of the hotel. Jack states that during his job interview he felt comfortable and knowledgeable about the hotel. Psychic phenomena do not obey the linear a true of normal time; an event from the past can manifest in the present, and an event in the present can ripple through to the past.
The music was done by Grammy Award-winning composer Wendy Carlos. In addition to "The Shining," she worked with Kubrick on "A Clockwork Orange," and also did the music for the original "Tron" film. She's a pioneer of electronic music and helped develop the Moog synthesizer, which had an enormous impact on music in the late 1960s and throughout the '70s. Your reaction to her outstanding work in this film is so satisfying to watch because I agree that the sound design (not merely the music) is crucial to making "The Shining" what it is.
Most of the music was pre-existing music such as Ligeti, Penderecki, and of course Bartók. Carlos did the main title though, based on Berlioz.
@@BubbaCoop Wendy Carlos also created "Rocky Mountains", the piece heard when the family is motoring to the hotel (i.e., Donner Party chat). Really effective music that adds to the film's mounting tension.
In the novel, Tony is actually Danny’s middle name. His shine presents itself to him as Tony. It’s like his inner monologue. Dr. Sleep is the sequel and also worth the watch and read.
Exactly it's how a 5 year old experiences ESP
Doctor sleep reaction tomorrow!
And the real Dany appears too. Just in case, he is the guy praising the baseball player.
What do you mean by the real Danny?
@HuntingViolets the guy at the baseball game played Danny in the first movie
Congrats... I think Danny was using the maze exactly as HE needed, and Jack's refusal to go in made it the perfect death-field. The book is fairly different and worth reading. I think most folks lose the concept for hallucinations being used so often... or were they hauntings? Either way...
My biggest complaint is that, IF there's a lot to unpack (yes there is), it's because Kubrick wanted them OR was unable to complete his film sufficiently for a better explanation. In that way, it's probably a sucky film - a film terribly unrealized.
Before anyone else starts leaving comments about how "The Shining destroyed Shelley Duvall", take her own words from Fangoria 2011:
"Oh, Stanley really gets a bad reputation sometimes but he was a perfectionist. We had our moments when we laughed and joked around on set, but then there were times that we just exploded at each other! I’m a very stubborn person and don’t like being bossed around and told what to do, Stanley pushed and pushed to get the performance out of me that he wanted."
Shelley has said time and again that Kubrick was kind to her and they simply had her moments because she was stubborn and didn't like to be bossed around. Does that excuse how he treated her? No. But Shelley always talks about him warmly, even as recent as a year ago.
This movie didn't ruin her, or her career. She thrived 22 years after this film and won awards for her performances and her children's programming and retired in 2002. She currently lives in Texas with her partner Dan and is very happy with herself, her career, and her life and has gotten much better in recent years. And for people who say she's aged horrible? She's 73, people age, they don't stay young forever. She's a beautiful woman inside and out and people really need to stop spreading misinformation about her.
Thank you for that. Every time this movie comes up, it's like there's this flood of certain topics that rise up instantly, one of them being Shelley's poor treatment at the hands of a sadist. People have verbally crucified Stanley enough over this nonsense.
There's also the wackadoo conspiracy theories about this movie; many Americans seem to feast on stuff like that, sadly. It's something of a rabbit hole with this film. Kind of scary that people believe such things.
@@eduardo_corrochio Stanley did treat her horribly, and I do very much believe it SHOULD be brought up when it's relevant but the fact that people just make up things about it and don't listen to Shelley herself is so frustrating :(
That is a good comment. It is so disrespectful to Shelley Duvall to say 'Oh she wasn't acting, she was genuinely traumatized,' as if Kubrick could have dragged some random woman off the street and got the same performance just by mistreating her. Duvall was a very skilled actress.
If I have learned anything from watching horror films, it’s to never build anything on top of an Indian burial ground. Or any type of burial ground actually.
I've been dying to see what you thought of this one! Even though Stephen King has been very vocal about disliking this adaptation, this to me represents the kind of horror films I enjoy. Slasher horror relies mostly on the gore factor, and modern American horror in general relies on cheap jump scares. To me this is just lazy. Psychological slow burn horror takes quality writing and acting to work, and The Shining does it beautifully. Doctor Sleep is a very worthy sequel, one of the few horror sequels I feel is worth its salt.
Agree! I’d take psychological of jump scares any day.
@@CasualNerdReactions Then you need to check out more Japanese and Korean films, which use your imagination and suspense in a way if you have done since the days of Hitchcock, where the anticipation of a scare is far worse than the actual scare. Hideo Nakata was great at this with Dark Water and Ringu (The Ring), followed by others like Ju-on: The Grudge and Pulse. Most of these have been remade as American films but the originals are far better. This is the kind of horror that literally makes me full-on shudder hours after watching it. These days there are much higher budget films made in Asia, such as Train to Busan and The Host, but I kind of prefer the simpler stories with more subtle creepiness.
Tuesdays are always terrifying!
Now watch ROOM 237 . It's a documentary of THE SHINING .
One of the reasons I watch your videos is you are very good company. The second reason is it gives me a look at some movies I have heard a lot about but never seen. I don't watch horror movies. At best they make me laugh and at worst they bore me. So thank you for the peek at "The Shining." I don't think you are supposed to understand what's going on. I think there is no explanation. The audience is to be very frightened and very confused and left to speculate endlessly. BTW my uncle had an imaginary friend. He was a very nice boy.
CHRIS! Try DRAGONFLY, it's a slow burn at times but made my skin crawl in a good way.
Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates ...fun!😱😃
Please don't spoil the fun by researching the movie like some reactors do, I think you'll appreciate this one that isn't often reacted to😃
Party scene, right after the server bumps into him and before the bathroom scene....a woman walks by from the right with a bloody handprint on her ass. Missed that for DECADES.
"Here's Johnny!"
(Apologizes for the late post. I was out all day yesterday. Go in Peace and Walk with God.)
Fun Fact: As he lived in England, Stanley Kubrick was not at all familiar with the "Heeeeere's Johnny" line (from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)) that Jack Nicholson improvised. He very nearly didn't use it.
Hot Take Fact: There is a great deal of confusion regarding this film and the number of retakes of certain scenes. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the scene where Wendy is backing up the stairs swinging the baseball bat was shot 127 times, which is a record for the most takes of a single scene. However, both Steadicam operator Garrett Brown and assistant editor Gordon Stainforth say this is inaccurate. The scene was shot about thirty-five to forty-five times.
Method Director Fact: Despite Stanley Kubrick's fierce demands on everyone, Jack Nicholson admitted to having a good working relationship with him. It was with Shelley Duvall that he was a completely different director. He allegedly picked on her more than anyone else. He would really lose his temper with her, even going so far as to say that she was wasting the time of everyone on the set. She later reflected that he was probably pushing her to her limits to get the best out of her, and that she wouldn't trade the experience for anything, but it was not something she ever wished to repeat.
I'm not a fan of The Shining. I find it hammy and ham-fisted. I find the kid annoying rather than spooky. Jack chews the scenery, snivelling Shelley is poor (and reportedly going through a bad time in her own life). The hotel set design is remarkable, but the ghostly events within its walls are shaky, and the substance of the storytelling is sacrificed for Kubrick's overwrought style.
4/10 for me.
Glad you enjoyed it, though, Chris. Horror, like comedy, is personal and if it works for someone then it's a success. The Shining has legions off fans so must have worked for lots of people, just not for me. .
I might be way off, and too literal, here, but I believe that the key is the scene in the restroom between Delbert Grady and Jack. And maybe the Indian spirits at the hotel that are manifesting through Delbert Grady's ghost, and Jack, speaking to each other. It involves reincarnation. When Jack asks Delbert Grady if he were the caretaker there, before, he was flashing on his past life in 1921 when Grady was the butler and Jack was the caretaker, (Delbert said Jack was the caretaker there, and that he'd always been there). And Jack thinking he'd seen Delbert's photo in the papers of the murderer in the 1970 hotel killings. But that was Charles Grady, the caretaker, then. It wasn't Jack, as he was living and working in Denver. Charles was the murderer. Jack was also having flashbacks to his past life in the illusionary ballroom party scene, (leading to the restroom scene), that actually occurred in 1921, as depicted in that last scene which shows him in that same 4th of July Ball photo.
Kubrick's masterful adaptation of King's epic novel (while the author has notoriously debunked it ; he's nuts - the book is unwieldy - fuck's sake he dedicates an entire chapter to the goddamn boiler!) is one of the greatest horror films of all-time with iconic performances by Jack & Shelley.
If you're interested in a more conventional linear version, it was remade as a 4hr tv event. More faithful to the book but no Kubrick. I prefer the show-dont-tell style, same as I preferred 2001 the film more than Arthur Clarke's novelization.
The original title of the book was "The Shine." But along the way his publisher (I think) told Stephen King that this title wasn't going to work because a "shine" was an unflattering term for an African American. King had not known this and realized he could slightly modify the title.
Scariest day of the week: "TUESDAY" LOL
Its the music that takes it over the edge... Stanley Kubrick could mix his score like an artist palette, pulling themed songs and incidental sound scapes amongst recognizable almost cliched classical 2001 had the Stauss Blue Danube and that over the too chorale, Clockwork Orange had an electronic Beethoven Ode to Joy, and here the opening Dies Irea and Bartoks Music for strings, percussion and celeste....youll never hear them the same again.
The lady in the bathtub was his former wife that he strangled. That’s why she strangles people that come in there. That’s the marks on Danny’s neck. It was her. Not Jack. I read the book. It goes into more detail. The book is terrifying!
I hope that you decide to see all of Kubrick’s films (not including Spartacus, since he doesn’t include it in his work)…in any event, *they’re all classics*
The hotel Shines, and your watching past events replaying themselves out with Jack.
If anyone here is interested, Grimmlifecollective recently posted a video where they hung out with Shelley Duvall and asked her some questions. It was a pleasant surprise and I was glad to see Shelly seems to be doing well.
I find the Wendy theory about this movie very compelling. Look it up it can explain it bet than I can.
Welcome down the rabbit hole. You should watch videos on UA-cam about this movie. You won’t be disappointed.
One of my favorite movies and my one of my favorite books! Read it, it’s worth it!❤😈❤️
i saw this for the first time when i was like thirteen. my friend and i were laughing our @$$€$$ off during the crazy zombie lady scene
My preferred interpretation is that the hotel isn't 'haunted'; it's alive, and it eats people. That's why the twins from the story about Mr Grady are twins instead of 8 and 10 like in the story, that's why Mr Grady's first name is wrong, that's why furniture and walls and carpeting move around in the background, and that's why Jack has 'always' been here. On an in-universe level, the hotel is an eldritch horror that lures in people with psychic abiliies to consume them, and then remixes them into whatever puppets it wants to play with. Mr Halloran and Danny are too strong to just go along with its manipulations completely, so it has to persuade Jack to 'add them to its roster'.
On a metaphorical level, the hotel represents the violence and the cycle of abuse, which is why there are so many genocide references in the film, and why Danny defeats Jack by leading him into a maze that he already knows his way out of. Danny has recognized that his father's behaviour is unacceptable and a result of an inability to deal with the emotional scars of the past, and he's decided not to be that kind of man. They're just like pictures in a book; you don't have to let them affect how you treat other people in the here and now.
I enjoy watching people react to horror movies it be so hilarious😂😂
Whoever doesn't like The Shining needs a good.....talking to.
I don't know if Steven King or Stanley Kubrick intended this, but the story can be seen partly as an allegory about domestic abuse fueled by alcohol. Jack has a history of abuse, which he partly denies. Wendy is beaten down, and is also in denial. Neither has really addressed Jack's behavior, so when there's nothing to keep him in check, he reverts and becomes even worse than he was before.
One thing that not many reactors comment on is that Wendy does all the work of caring for the hotel. Jack just types. He gets really angry about fulfilling his responsibilities, but then, he doesn't fulfill his responsibilities. Wendy does that for him.
Kubrick was very hard on Shelley Duvall during the filming. He shot over a hundred takes of the scene on the stairs to get the terror and confusion that he wanted in her performance. She said later that the stress was so great that her hair started to fall out.
In the scenes where Jack is chopping through the doors, Kubrick originally used flimsy prop doors. But Nicholson had training as a firefighter, and his blows were so forceful that he broke the doors to pieces too quickly. Kubrick switched to regular solid doors to get the effect he wanted.
I agree that the sound design had a lot to do with the terror and suspense of this movie. So did the visual design. For instance, the low-angle shots of Danny riding his big wheel tricycle through the halls looked really creepy.
Remove the alcohol but fully stock the kitchen... One of these things makes sense.
13:00, this was on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments
9:39 The trike going over carpet.... wood floor .... carpet.... wood floor...
Sounds a bit like a heart beat. Kubrick was a trip
Curious what made you nervous about watching it if you didn't know anything about it? General reputation?
Did you see Ready Player One? Spielberg had an incredible digital re-creation of the hotel. Including the film grain.
For comparison, you should watch the TV miniseries version of this story, it is much closer to Stephen Kings book. Kubrick changed many things
Excellent movie, but not the same as the novel. King did not like this adaption. Whereas it had terrifying imagery, it was not faithful. I liked the book and envisioned the Overlook much as Kubrick had. There was a Topiary instead of a maze. A good read.
Soooooo many theories about this movie!! Art can get us thinking n few movies out there keep viewers thinking n talking like this one
31:45 well the first one was they built it on an Indian burial ground one of the care takers killed themself, the Grady guy killed his family then blew his head off, then they temporally made a camp there and every Friday the 13th a guy called Jason comes to visit, and month after that they made a room for zombie orphans... And vampire puppies.
Scatman Cruthers to the rescue! Oops never mind.
Read the book, it's scarier than the film.
I'm just like you, a scared-y-cat!
I have seen this movie a lot of times, I understand it until it shows the picture at the end.
I laugh so hard at how many people jump at "Tuesday"🤣
It was unavoidable for me haha
Hm, I was sure you had already seen this one. Watch Doctor Sleep it's a worthy sequel.
Reaction posting tomorrow :)
I've been thinking exactly the same. Must be some kind of mandela effect. Weird.
"He seems a little bit off... is that a personality change?" Nono... it's just Jack Nicholson.
And the Joker is just Jack Nicholson in clown make up.
12:08 I believe this sound to indicate The Shining
This is such a hard movie to explain the premise for (imagine that it was directed by Stanley Kubrick and it is hard to explain, who would ever think?). Imagine a funnel. At the wide end you have time and at the narrow end you have the Overlook Hotel. The hotel kind of reaches out through time and pulls whoever it can grab down through the funnel and into itself wherein the hotel kind of becomes a world in itself. It also warps the personalities and the identities of its victims. The personality that was Charles Grady at the wide end of the funnel becomes Delbert Grady when it goes through the narrow end of the funnel. The personality that was Jack Torrance at the wide end of the funnel more than likely has a different name in the photograph since it has now gone through the funnel. It's like the hotel turns people into funhouse images of themselves on a psychological level when it consumes them.
Unsettling best word for this movie
You should check out some of the "theories" about this film (especially the "Wendy theory ua-cam.com/video/wRr_0W-9hWg/v-deo.html). Kubrick is so deliberate with everything in all of his movies, that this is a theory I think might actually have a bit of legs. And I usually HATE conspiracy theories and such, but it actually makes a little sense....
Kubrick is human and there was bound to be inconsistencies in this movie, just because he was careful and perfectionist doesn't mean he's not bound to make errors. The whole thing also comes off as super victim blame-y and it uses a lot of wording abusers use to describe their victims to keep them in line. And, Wendy is an abuse victim.
Next ready player one. That movie full of the shining Easter eggs and lot more
I elect we use "corrected" to mean "chopped" from now on!!
Waiter: Can I get you something to start?
Me: Yes, how about a nice corrected salad with Italian dressing.
You need to insert a pause. "I'd like a...corrected salad, please."
The massacre of the native Americans is what caused this
The score was done by Wendy Carlos, a transgender woman who basically pioneered electronic/synthesized music. Rachel Elkind also assisted with the score
There was very little score. It was mostly existing orchestral music. The title sequence was Carlos, a synth version of Berlioz's Symphoie Fantastique, which uses the Dies Irie which itself is a melody believed to be over a thousand years old.
The only one that had it easy filming was the kid. Kubrick treated the kid better than the adults. Scatman cruthers admitted that he needed therapy for a while afterwards due to how Kubrick treated them. But the worst was poor Shelly Duvall. Last part of the movie Wendy wasn't 'acting' Kubrick treated her worse than crap. Insults threats ignoring her on set and he got all the cast and crew to do it too. She didn't recover from the ordeal and still has mental issues. Not to mention how many times they made jack Nicholson fall down those stairs
Absolutely wild.
I don't mean this in a bad way but I find it hard to believe a lot of reactors on UA-cam who must have seen some of these movies before... Just something I notice in these first time reactions. I enjoy watching though and you put all the best plot points together so it feels like I'm watching the whole movie
I feel the same way towards a lot of reactors actually. It’s hard to fathom! For me, my dad was a pastor with very few exceptions I never watched R rated films prior to starting the channel.
Tony is MVP of the film.
Don't feel bad. I saw another reactor scream when the word Tuesday came up. 🤣
It’s the scariest day.
Very perceptive about the Dissociation & "creating another personality". I realized that aspect several years ago. You're the only reactor I've watched reacting to this movie, that realized that. None of the others have known what to make of that.
Wendy's response to intense fear & trauma is to go to sleep. She has been married to & living with a toxic, gaslighting narcissist, & violent abusive alcoholic for several years. When he asked her what she was doing down there, after discovering what he'd been writing, she is so panicked, she says she can't remember. This signifies to me that she was probably abused as a child as well. Women who were abused as children, are often targeted & preyed on by controlling abusive narcissistic men, who have no real respect for women, & who just want someone who is easy to control.
I know from firsthand personal experience, that Childhood Abuse & Trauma, often damages a person's cognition & executive function. They have trouble organizing thought, & therefore making decisions. Which makes functioning in everyday life very difficult, much less in extreme circumstances. And the mental gymnastics it takes, when you have cognitive & executive function disorder, to try to organize your thoughts, causes chronic fatigue & extreme exhaustion. You worry & stew a lot more over things, because things are a lot harder for you to solve. Your responses to questions & everyday situations, even or especially life threatening situations, are slow & off. Lifelong abuse causes you to become stuck in flight mode, so panic becomes your default. So when she should be scooping up her child & at the very least locking herself in another room in the hotel, far away from their room, to stay safe, since there seems to be no way of escape, instead she cries, & explains what she's going to do, & ends up going to sleep in the same room they've been staying in. Though to be fair, she had Jack locked in the pantry, so she probably thought she was safe for a few hours, to gather her wits & regroup. She also could have, theoretically anyway, shut the bathroom window, smashed out the glass, & then climbed out.
The scenes with the hotel flooding with blood, has to do with all the blood that's been shed on the property. In the book, Elites had free for alls, drug & alcohol induced parties, & cult rituals, & performed human sacrifices. The movie eludes to this with the blood flooding scenes, the people partying in the bar & ballroom, & with the men having sex in animal costume. The movie includes the theme of cursed Indian burial grounds as a factor. All of which means the landed has been cursed & corrupted by all the bloodshed. So both the hotel itself, & the land as a whole, are haunted & possessed. The book/movie Rose Red by Stephen King, is another story/example of cursed land with a possessed house. The book/movie Christine, by Stephen King, is about a cursed/possessed car. Probably derived from the legend of James Dean's car, which was said to be cursed/possessed. The Stephen King novel/movie, Pet Cemetery, is about Indian Burial ground that is cursed/possessed, & which has the ability to resurrect the dead, who rise to also become cursed/possessed. It's a recurring theme in Stephen King's work...
But there's usually an element, of some thread of hope, running through it as well...
10:39
Tuesday jumpscare
Tuesday jumpscare
Thanks for this; it was a very enjoyable watch. I liked seeing your take on a thriller that I have always held in high esteem. The Shining is so unsettling, and just keeps bubbling up with tension. Kubrick took a solid horror novel and jettisoned certain things but added some sensational ones.
This is a movie that I go back to now and again because it is made so well in many respects. Like "The Exorcist", it's just quality cinema. Also: I like the entire soundtrack, from the esoteric classical stuff to the nightmarish electronic creations to "Midnight, The Stars and You" by Ray Noble and His Orchestra (vocals by Al Bowlly).
As to the mysterious photograph at the final scene, I personally like to leave that ambiguous. Maybe the hotel wanted Jack and finally claimed him, I don't know. I can't get into trying to figure it all out; I just like this movie a lot because I enjoy being frightened and I appreciate film techniques.
I'm subscribing to your channel.
Welcome to the channel! I love what you said an out not trying to figure it all out. Some things can and should just be enjoyed .
I really enjoyed your reaction. Great spooky choice for the Halloween season!
Also, don’t overthink the ending with timelines etc. For whatever reason, Jack fits right in with the damned spirits in the Overlook, and always has.
If you want to watch a horror movie based on true events check out The Ghost and the Darkness. If you want an action type to get a break react to either the 2012 DREDD or James Cameron The Abyss.
You've ALWAYS been the caretaker.
The horror when you finally get a New job, but ends up back at your old job that you tried to escape from.
At the end, when Jack was in the picture, it probably supernaturally changed from Grady to Jack. Of course, the mysteries of this movie are probably mostly supernatural. Things don't make sense, but somehow it adds to the horror of the film. I believe that Jack only liked the hotel in the beginning and became what he was because he was inherently prone to becoming that way. The true nature of the families characters was just highlighted as the movie progressed. Some things will be mysteries, but it makes for good horror. Thank you.
You may want to consider watching the exorcist too
Agreed! The scary aspects of the story is a slow burn, and those films are way better than slasher films by a long while.
I tried reading the book during a snowstorm…one of the biggest regrets of my life lol…the book focused so much on the isolation due to the storm I couldn’t finish it….also poor Shelly she went through so much for this movie :(
Timing is everything! And I was sad to learn about what Shelly experienced.
So did Scatman Crothers, who broke down crying asking Kubrick what he wanted after doing countless takes of the ice cream scene, and he did over 60 takes of getting the axe in his chest until Jack Nicholson went to Kubrick and intervened. EVERYONE had a hard time on EVERY Kubrick movie. Ken Adam had a heart attack from the stress of working on Kubrick's previous film, "Barry Lyndon". On Clockwork Orange, Malcom McDowell suffered broken ribs, a ripped cornea, had to get spat in the face countless times until it landed just right....and David Prowse had to do countless takes of carrying that wheelchair (with the writer in it) over and over again until he was exhausted. Shelley Winters had a hard shoot on "Lolita". As Michael Herr says, "Everyone worked hard on Kubrick films, but no one worked harder than Stanley." The Shelley Duvall stories are way overblown and exaggerated. She bounced back fine, she played Olive Oyl in "Popeye" right afterwards and produced the groundbreaking series "Fairy Tale Theatre" throughout the 80s (unheard of for a woman). Her subsequent mental issues have nothing to do with The Shining. The thing that hurt her most about the Shining wasn't Kubrick (who she has always spoken highly of), but the reaction to her performance. It's only NOW - ie: the last ten years or so - that people appreciate her performance, it's been maligned all these years.
Some of that comes through in Vivian Kubrick's behind the scenes footage.
The Shining is definitely an endurance test and you acquitted yourself admirably sir. Cheers.
I want to start off saying I do enjoy this movie. It is well acted and well done.
However it is not a true, faithful adaptation of the book which is phenomenal and I highly recommend you read the book sometime. The ending is very different in the book, and in my opinion, better. The book also answers some of the questions you raised.
I really did enjoy your reaction to this film. Your horror reactions especially, are so much fun. Good job.
I likely will check out this book one day.
Book is great, terrifying.....and completely different. EXCEPT: for the atmosphere. Kubrick was great in capturing the feeling of the writing in all of his adaptations, rendering the writing in cinematic terms. An achievement that not many talk about! The plot points are almost entirely different in the book....but the FEELING is exactly the same! Great movie, great book.
1:42, interestingly enough, Ridley Scott used footage from this movie, in other words, the opening scene, that would be used in the BLADE RUNNER ending credits.
That was the studio, not Ridley Scott. Note that it was removed in the later Director's Cuts.
Those who gave Shelly Duvall A Raspberry need their head examined
Stephen King was partly inspired
to write the story by the book & film
"Burnt Offerings", both among his favorites.
Also based on his experience at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO
Regarding your thesis question: yes, this film is just as unnerving as the idea of it. More even, perhaps