The Shining

A Psychological Slasher

The Details

The film ‘The Shining’ is based off of the original 1977 horror novel by Stephen King. The screenplay is adapted and written by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson. Stanley Kubrick also Directed and Produced the film, causing many problems with the cast by changing details and dialogue daily, causing stress and confusion.The budget was $19 million and in the box office it grossed a total of $44,017,374

AnticipationIt was very highly anticipated, but Kubrick purposely did not stick to the text and added many hidden themes into the film. The hedge maze, for example, was not in the novel, and in fact, to show his film’s indifference to Stephen King, he has a character drive past a red VW Beetle (the car Jack, Wendy and Danny own in the novel) which has been crushed.

Room 237Room 237 is a documentary, in which people were interviewed about their experience watching the Shining for the first time. Almost all of them said they didn’t like the film the first time, however, after leaving, they felt they had to see it again, and then that’s when they noticed all these hidden messages.Before he made the Shining, Stanley Kubrick had been reading about subliminal advertising, and was interested in using it in a film.There were many theories in Room 237, one of them being about the room number, as in the novel it’s room 217. It is theorised this is about Kubrick faking the moon landing, as it is 237,000 miles to the moon, and Danny enters the room wearing an APOLLO 11 jumper. There are many other theories such as this, including reference to The Cold War, Red Indian slaughter, and the Holocaust.

OverallThis film therefore, is considered one of the best Psychological/Slasher Horror films of all time, as each character doesn’t just represent a victim, they represent thousands of victims throughout history, and many do not realize this, but that is what makes it more intriguing. Not only that, but it is amazingly directed with shots such as Danny on the tricycle or running through the maze, which make the film so much more intense.