The Shining (1980)

I would say The Shining is the film I have seen and heard the most about without actually watching it. The infamous 'heres Johnny' scene is something I've seen so many times I make references to it myself. Then there is the general larger lore that comes with The Stanley Hotel where the film is set. I am someone who despite my fear for horror films loves watching paranormal investigations, I won't get into how I feel about spirits and ghost hunting but through that I learnt about the Stanley hotel. As far as I am aware Stephen King was inspired to write this film after his night at The Stanley due to a vivid dream he had, since then it has been reported that a number of spirits haunt the building which is where the inspiration from the film stems from. With this knowledge I had a rough idea that there was going to be an axe murderer on the loose and I was assuming there was going to be some links to ghost or spirits which there was.

All things considered I think the movie was quite good, I will say I thought it was going to be more paranormal than it turned out to be. Of course there were crucial elements which included spirits or the other realm but I was thinking it was going to be more of evil spirits possessing people with their heads spinning full circles or demonic devil worshippers and acult practices. That didn't happen but in a way I am glad because the mystery element was much more enjoyable. Once again something about me is I enjoy spooky randomness. Sometimes there does not need to be an answer if it is filmed and produced in the right way but it is a thin line to accomplish it. Doing too little gives too much confusion that it takes away from the core of the film and in another realm adding just a smidge too much can throw off the balance for the whole thing and make the movie instead revolve around this one lore drop. It is a difficult line to make a film have no real answer and it is one that I struggled slightly with when talking about Danny's power. I did think it was strange to have this boy already talking to his creepy finger and having visions before a ghost had properly been introduced. However it turns out he just has powers naturally which is why he can talk to people in his head and grab on to visions of the future. The thing that didn't quite sit right with me is calling the process 'the shining'. Maybe it's because it was the title of the film or perhaps just the way it was delivered but as soon as it was given a name and a process I lost interest. To me I would have enjoyed it so much more if they simply said 'some people are born with the ability to connect to other things on a deeper level'. Quick, easy and simple. Instead giving it a name makes it appear grander than it is and it wasn't even the point of the film. The point of the film was history repeating itself not his super powers.

It was almost enough to completely lose interest in the film there. Almost. I say that because this ability reminded me of another media I love very much and that is the TV show Sense8. Sense8 for anyone who hasn't heard of it (in which case you definitely should go watch it) is about a group of 8 people from all across the world who are deeply connected into a group called a 'cluster'. Now this group of people have the ability to psychically travel to another person in the group wherever they are in the world but they can also touch, taste, smell, feel ect anything another one is feeling on a deep level as if they were experiencing it for themselves. Not just this but they are able to feel where another person who may have this ability resides even if it is outside of their core 8, including those of the dead. Now they can't physically bring them back or anything but the memory and reminance remain. I could talk about this more but I am hoping to do a longer deep dive on it next year so I won't. My point is I saw similarities from this beloved show in this story line from the shining. It was as if these were the blue prints that would go on and become sense8 and for that reason I was perhaps a touch more lenient than I should have been. However the point stands that it is a very interesting concept to make into a film if they had just kept it a minor line and not dramatized it as if it would become a key part. Because in actuality the visions did nothing to help them escape the situation other than emphasising how creepy the hotel was.

Speaking of the hotel, I loved what they were trying to establish. As mentioned before I am all for keeping the mystery a mystery and not everything needs to be explained and I believe the overall mystery that surrounded the murder, or should I say attempted murder, was done really well. The start of the movie mentioned a family slaughter taking place during a snow storm in such a specific way that we knew from the start it was going to play a larger part in the movie. And then over the course of not just one day but multiple days we saw the boy have different visions and the dad behaving weirdly that we knew something was wrong. From the moment it established a murder taking place we knew another one was going to follow because of the context clues, all it needed to do was add random unsettling moments to push across the narrative that all is not as it seems which is completed perfectly. Did the time travelling make complete sense to me. No! But neither did the twin girls or the blowjob scene or the bath ghost. None of that really mattered though because they had already stated a murder happened prior so we knew it was likely the same pattern of events would take place, the rest was all filler to accentuate that this hotel is not normal and history seems to repeat itself in an unexplained almost paranormal way.

Of course I had my own theory for what I think it could have been eluding to but that was all confirmed at the end of the movie anyway. In a way I wish they had left it ambiguous but then again it was revealed in a good way with the zoom into the photograph at the end. Not to blow my own trumpet but I did predict that the dad was slowly becoming possessed or at least put into a trance by the dad who killed his family before. The real key moment this clicked is when I heard the mum call him Jack and I was like 'wait in the famous axe scene he says heres Johnny' so who the hell is Johnny. Johnny ended up being (or at least it is safe to say) the name of the previous man who had killed his family and then himself. And over the time spent there he was getting more and more of a grip on Jack which made him able to manipulate him more until the day when Jack mindlessly mentioned he would sell his soul for a beer. In that moment even though not consciously I believe is when Johnny fully took consciousness and was waiting his time to strike which is why we then see a full bartender appear and then later a full 1920's style party. Leading from this I did enjoy the specific scene when Jack was taken into the bathroom with the supposed waiter only for Jack to briefly break through and realise it was the old groundskeeper just for him to hand over the title onto Jack. For me it was just such an enjoyable moment for these two characters to face in person and hand over the baton of sorts to the next generation.

One thing I would say is that I had hoped we saw more of what Jack was like before being at the control of the spirits. Before this the only time we saw Jack is with other people and then the moment he was alone with his family and no longer had to hold up appearances he began the process of being 'under the influence' of an evil ghost. It could be argued the moment when he yelled at Wendy for interrupting his work was truly his frustration which could accounted for how quickly she jumped to the conclusion Jack had hurt their son when he appeared with the mark on his neck. In a twisted way I think I do prefer this outcome purely because it would give some sort of indication for why Jack specifically was chosen to be possessed over the mum. Having Jack already be seen as a man who secretly abuses his family in a way and showing how deep down he already has an evil heart shows how easy it would have been for another evil spirits to take over his body as they were not actually too different. In that same vein I do wish they had kept to tradition and had the whole family die. They still could have kept it so the boy escaped the maze but have Jack run out just after while they're hugging and made it seem like they will escape just for them to die. And instead have the ending be a flashback to years later when a new family is staying there and making it seem like they would be the next victims.

However all of that is to say I thought the film was quite good. This one felt more of a mystery than a real gruesome, high intensity horror film which I like more. So in this journey I am realising maybe it isn't all bad and I just enjoy the creepy mystery element of Halloween more which... Now that I type it does seem like it should have been obvious. But it does go to show that even the classics can be enjoyed and I should not judge a book by it's cover because I could end up missing out on something I could enjoy.

Remaining Thoughts

•Is this the reason everyone sees twins as evil, I mean I kinda get it because twin kids are creepy but as they get older it's low-key like they don't exist anymore... Besides from the devinki twins and jedward

•Why is it always a child that can understand creepy ghosts and have visions

•Just once I would love for there to be a good ghost who just wants to help and is trying to move on but never can

•That is one smart kid realising snow leaves footprints and then reversing to hide them so they can't follow you

•They need to stop hugging when the killer is still out there and just haul ass and run and take the damn knife with you just in case don't drop it on the ground!!