I was 25 years old when I first saw The Shining very late one night on cable in in 1983. How this film managed to fly under my radar when it was originally released in theaters is one of my life's great mysteries, because while disturbing, I loved this film. It was right up my alley.
I had been unable to sleep that night, so I thought that getting out of bed and watching some television might help. The apartment complex I was living in at the time had recently gotten cable and were providing it (along with one or or two premium channels) to the residents at no charge.
Never having had cable before, I'd already been shocked by seeing fully exposed breasts on my small television (Galaxina), but I was totally unprepared for the horror that was The Shining.
Needless to say, sitting on the floor and watching it in a dark, quiet apartment all by myself left me shook. (Especially since my friends and I were into the whole New Age/Spirit Guides thing at the time.)
While I know the film was only tangentially faithful to the source material, it remains one of my favorite films. Judging from the number of discussions and scholarly dissertations on YouTube, I'm not the only one. People attribute all sort of wild conspiracy theories to Kubrick's film—the most notable is that it was his way of letting the world know he'd been involved in faking the Apollo Moon landings. (Yes, Virginia, the rabbit hole goes that deep.) I watched a video the other day that made the case for the entire story being in Wendy's head after a psychotic break. Not sure I get that one either, but hey…whatever.
The video above does point out the masterful (if unintended—really?!) use of music to underscore various moments in scenes and I have to say it does resonate.
If you're a fan of the film, give it a watch and let me know what you think.