A Look Back at Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING – Screening This Weekend at Marcus Wehrenberg Theatres

Article by Jake Billingsley

Stanley Kubrick’s masterwork THE SHINING has been chosen by Marcus Wehrenberg Theatres as one of the four films in their October Friday night series. THE SHINING will be shown October​ ​5th -7​th and is presented by TCM. There will be one screening each night at 10 PM. Admission is only $5. For more details and a list of participating theaters, go HERE
http://www.marcustheatres.com/marcus-specials/marcus-film-series/october-horror-series-

The other films in the series include:

October​ ​12-14:​ ​“A​ ​Nightmare​ ​on​ ​Elm​ ​Street”

October​ ​19-21:​ ​“The​ ​Exorcist”

October​ ​26-28:​ ​“Halloween”

In the year 1980, there were many memorable films. Most of us remember the magic of movies like Raging Bull, The Empire Strikes Back, Caddyshack, Ordinary People, and Airplane!. These films gave moviegoers the true “movie going” experience, and we are still going back for more 37 years later. Accompanying these films were 2 modern horror classics, Sean Cunningham’s Friday the 13th, and Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s prominent novel, The Shining. While Friday the 13th was more popular at the box office, The Shining was the film that put viewers in the hand’s of a true master; it is also known by many to be the greatest horror film ever made. I can’t say the same for Friday the 13th.

When looking at Kubrick’s masterpiece, it is fascinating to see the great horror motifs that dominate the films structure and narrative. While the petrifying persistence of Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind’s film score frightens us all, the imagery throughout the film is equally haunting. Whether it is the twins butchered in the hallway or the blood flowing from the lobby elevator, one can not deny that this film has a unique, psychological mood that expands upon genre standards; that was Kubrick’s goal.

While Kubrick perfects the elements that make a film great, there is an asset that he was lucky to acquire. Jack Nicholson is that asset, and he is vital to the film’s success. This man not only goes crazy in the film, but shows off his acting talents in a way that we don’t commonly see. Few actors can pull of the characters in a diverse filmography, but it is even more uncommon for one of those actors to have an amazing performance in a horror film. Nicholson revolutionizes the character of Jack Torrance. He gives the character a psychotic appeal all throughout the film. He does this through body language and frequently terrifying smiles that his eyebrows add even more terror to; you won’t see him the same after seeing him in this film. His crazed performance lingers over us just as much as the hotel loiters over the family. How can we forget “Here’s Johnny?”

So what is the benefit of seeing a film that you have probably seen before, or one that can easily be rented in the comfortable confines of the home you live in? These questions aren’t only applied to films that have been out for 37 years, but to films that come out every weekend. People are tired of paying $12.50 a ticket and being tempted by the outrageous concession prices, but that is where the movie going experience has brought us; that is until we see a film that affects us all. There is a special reason films like The Shining are remembered, and we know great horror films only come once a decade… Can’t think of one in the past few, but I remain waiting patiently (not really). Go out and see The Shining. The tickets are only $5. I repeat, the tickets are $5. As Jack Torrance would say, “Go check it out.”