The Shining is a Horror movie directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the famous Stephen King book. The film is a classic known to many as one of the best horror movies ever made. Throughout the film, we watch Danny, the main character, descend into madness while isolated in a hotel with his family during a peak Colorado winter. Without an escape, we watch as Wendy scrambles to save her son’s life from his father while Danny learns about his shining and is taunted by ghosts. Some of Kubrick’s directing methods can be seen as cruel. With intense acting and tricky camera angles, Kubrick produced what we remember as the Kubrick stare. Was the cruelty worth it?

     Kubrick put a lot of detail in each scene in every movie he made. His style was sometimes sort of chaotic, depending on what the film was supposed to depict.  Kubrick would often move things to confuse the cast and to get better reactions. He was also known to pack his films with symbolism. Some of these methods sound harmless but I am sure Shelly Duvall would disagree. Shelly played the character Windy, the mother of a family of three. The Torrence family had a big hurdle that they were trying to work out. This hurdle mixed with isolation and a dash of spirits equals an intense sense of emotions. Shelly had many scenes where she had to act as if she was going to die, that she was seeing her last moments. Kubrick pushed Shelly into acting each scene harder and harder to the point of completely exhausting the actress. He made her act out the iconic step scene a record-breaking 127 times in 3 weeks. Shelly was also going through a hard breakup and was not mentally ready for such a commitment. Shelly was not completely submissive, she and Kubrick were known to often have words back and forth. Kubrick purposefully made the rest of the cast and crew almost completely ignore Shelly but praise Jack Nicolson. Even though Jack had it a bit easier, Kubrick did make him eat nothing but cheese sandwiches, which he hated. Kubrick reasoned that it would get him into the Jack Torrence character. 

     Some of the behind-the-scenes videos I found on YouTube showed cool moments of Jack getting into character and Shelly arguing with Kubrick. My favorite set of clips was of Kubrick truly directing. He would change scripts mid-production and constantly move props around and capture hard angles. It was impressive to watch Kubrick get into the camera’s point of view as he pictured how it would look. One part of Kubrick was watching Jack from inside the pantry. He was trying to find the right angle to portray the evil that the scene was displaying. He could not quite find it until he got on the ground under Jack and looked upwards. He directed Jack and made him act out the scene a couple of times and then filmed it. Now we have the beautiful shot of a crazy Jack Torrence in the pantry waiting to hunt his family.

     For a very long time, the author of The Shining, Stephen King, did not like the movie adaptation of his book. Ever since its release, he critiqued many things he disliked. One of these is that the character that Shelly Duvall plays is completely different from the one he wrote. He stated that in Kubrick’s depiction, Windy was “one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film.”  He believed all she did was cry and whine. There were problems behind the scenes with Kubrick and King. It is known that King likes to write the first script for each of his films that have movie adaptations, but it is said that Kubrick completely threw out King’s script for The Shining.  Kubrick also started this film with a direct jab at King.  When the Torrence family is driving up the hill they pass a wreck on the side of the road.  The car that has been totaled is a red beetle. In the novel by King, Jack drives a red beetle.  Kubrick was telling King right out of the gate that he could do what he wanted.  A couple of other details from the book were left out and certain things are completely changed, but it is unclear if the other variations are jabs or just creative liberties that Kubrick took.  Whose adaptation was better?  The original written version, or the film adaptation?

      This film has left an important mark on horror history.  It is hard to find a horror lover who has not heard of The Shining.  But with everything I have learned, I can not help but wonder if Kubrick should get as much praise as he does.  He should get applause for how authentic the film feels, but what about Shelly Duvall’s mental health? After the film, she quit acting.  She claims that she is happier and appreciates Kubrick and this film.  Does she mean it though?  Or is she just too nice to expose a potentially abusive director?  Either way, Ms. Duvall acted in her first movie in over 20 years in a low-budget horror film called The Forest Hills. This time she played an antagonist.  This movie was released in May of 2023.