Movies

“Here’s Johnny!” THE SHINING Midnights This Weekend at The Tivoli

By Tom Stockman | July 12, 2015

“Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in. Not by the hair of your chiny-chin-chin? Well then I’ll huff and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in!”

THE SHINING (1980) screens midnights this weekend (July 17th and 18th) at The Tivoli Theater as part of their ‘Reel Late at The Tivoli’ Midnight Series.

Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film, THE SHINING (based on the Stephen King novel) creates some of the most genuine spine chills ever filmed. Taking a job as a winter caretaker for a giant and remote hotel, Jack Nicholson, his wife Shelley Duvall, and his son Danny Lloyd, find that the long hallways and empty rooms contain more than a few ghosts. The film goes back and forth from scary to amusing as Jack, meticulously pacing his part, slowly turns into a psychopath, taking an axe to his loved ones. Kubrick’s use of space and the eerie steadycam have never been put to better use, and the great Scatman Crothers provides some fun support. Kubrick’s unforgettable opening shot with the camera flying over the landscape seems like a cold reference to his 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY. Regardless of where you stand on Kubrick’s adaptation, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who can’t remember the first time they heard Jack Nicholson’s signature line, “Here’s Johnny,” or who doesn’t still harbor a deep distrust for little twin girls in matching outfits.

THE SHINING was an interesting entry in Stanley Kubrick’s filmography. Many Kubrick films were not appreciated in their own time, and THE SHINING is often left out of discussions of the great director. Despite initially mixed reviews it was a hit, grossing $44 million on a $19 million budget. At the same time, horror fanatics find the film extraordinary, and by all counts, they’re right. Here was a horror entry from a first-class filmmaker who had transcended the “horror” classification and made a film that 35 years later is still being shown of the big screen (where it best basks in its moody atmosphere) and still scaring moviegoers. You can be one of them when THE SHINING screens midnights this Friday and Saturday (July 17^th and 18^th) at The Tivoli Theater. I’ll be there with custom THE SHINING trivia with prizes.