When The Shining hit screens in 1980 many left the cinema feeling perplexed. The films poster had touted Kubricks latest release as a masterpiece of modern horror yet the only scene which distinctly felt like it resided in the horror genre is where Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall) re-enters the hotels lobby to find the cob-web-covered skeletons of guests from years gone by. Given this lack of traditional horror fare, why is The Shining still regarded as one of the most terrifying horror films of all-time? Part of the answer to this question must be credited to Stanley Kubrick. The genius directors notorious attention to detail radiates through his only entry into the horror genre. Subtle inconsistencies in the films cinematography which for the most part the audience is unconscious of are worked into The Shining to create an underlying sense of confusion and angst. These inconsistencies are discussed at great length in Room 237 a visual essay with a panel of experts discussing the underlying themes of Kubricks classic but one of the more interesting is that the layout of the Overlook hotel which houses all the films unsettling events makes no physical sense. The hotel was purposefully designed to be structurally incongruous, though it would arguably take an architect to notice this on a first viewing. This sense of confusion and incongruity means that we can better empathise with the psychological bewilderment of Jack Torrance, as masterfully portrayed by Jack Nicholson who has always thrived when playing the mentally unstable.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
