2. The Details
The film ‘The Shining’ is based off of the original 1977
horror novel by Stephen King.
The screenplay is adapted and written by Stanley Kubrick
and Diane Johnson.
Stanley Kubrick also Directed and Produced the film,
causing many problems with the cast by changing details
and dialogue daily, causing stress and confusion.
The budget was $19 million and in the box office it
grossed a total of $44,017,374
3. Anticipation
It was very highly anticipated, but Kubrick purposely did
not stick to the text and added many hidden themes
into the film. The hedge maze, for example, was not in
the novel, and in fact, to show his film’s indifference to
Stephen King, he has a character drive past a red Beetle
(the car Jack, Wendy and Danny own in the novel) which
has been crushed and is on fire.
4. Room 237
Room 237 is a documentary, in which people were
interviewed about their experience watching the Shining for
the first time. Almost all of them said they didn’t like the film
the first time, however, after leaving, they felt they had to see
it again, and then that’s when they noticed all these hidden
messages.
Before he made the Shining, Stanley Kubrick had been
reading about subliminal advertising, and was interested in
using it in a film.
There were many theories in Room 237, one of them being
about the room number, as in the novel it’s room 217. It is
theorised this is about Kubrick faking the moon landing, as it
is 237,000 miles to the moon, and Danny enters the room
wearing an APOLLO 11 jumper. There are many other theories
such as this, including reference to The Cold War, Red Indian
slaughter, and the Holocaust.
5. Overall
This film therefore, is considered one of the best
Psychological/Slasher Horror films of all time, as
each character doesn’t just represent a victim, they
represent thousands of victims throughout history,
and many do not realize this, but that is what makes
it more intriguing. Not only that, but it is amazingly
directed with shots such as Danny on the tricycle or
running through the maze, which make the film so
much more intense.
