4. Rivers Of Blood
One of the most visually striking acts of The Shining is the occurrence of the blood pouring from the elevator in the hotel. Almost tsunami like, a torrent of blood fills the room from the closed elevator door. This apparition is seen three times throughout the film, the first occurrence being through one of Danny's prophetic visions before even entering the hotel. As the first real scene of terror in the film which is only momentary, Kubrick creates suspense before even introducing the isolated hotel as it gives an air of inevitability to the events of the rest of the film. The alarming events that will happen are foreshadowed by the stream of blood that is almost as though it is filling and overwhelming Danny's consciousness. The final occurrence of the blood spilling from the elevator takes place at the climax of horror in the film. Wendy is travelling through the haunted hotel, knife in hand, surrounded by strange apparitions and the dead body of Dick Hallorann, when she comes across the elevator where immediately blood begins to pour from the side of the entrance. The image of the elevator is interspersed with the picture of Wendy's horrified, wide eyed, disbelieving face, creating more terror with this chilling view of one of the sympathetic protagonists. The placing of the scene here serves to encapsulate the feeling of the horrific realisation that the hotel has a mind of it's own that can unleash terrifying images at will.