The Shining, 1980.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd.
SYNOPSIS:
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.
Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a classic horror film. Its impression on pop culture is so influential that even those who haven’t seen it can recognise its iconography. With its visceral imagery, haunting score and hypnotic tracking shots it is consistently ranked amongst the greatest horror films. It seems strange then, despite its now legendary status, to think that it received a mixed reception when it opened in the US. This resulted in Kubrick re-cutting the film for its subsequent ‘international’ release, removing 24 minutes and creating the version we are now so familiar with here in the UK.
The announcement that the extended US cut is crossing the Atlantic and reaching British cinemas (and is available on Blu-ray) is intriguing. Kubrick was a master in presenting subconscious imagery and visuals that could have multiple interpretations. His producer Jan Harlan even stated, “Stanley wanted it full of ambiguity”. The Shining has created intense debate about its hidden meanings and nowhere is this demonstrated more than the documentary Room 237 (read our review here). So, what secrets does a longer stay at the Overlook Hotel reveal?
Well, what it does uncover are scenes that give depth to the underlying history of its victims, the Torrance family. For example, in a scene subsequent to his first vision Danny (Danny Lloyd) finds a doctor questioning him about his imaginary friend. More telling is the conversation afterwards where Wendy (Shelley Duvall) reveals details of her husband Jack (Jack Nicholson) and the drunken rage that results in Danny’s broken arm.
The extended version expands both characterisation and exposition, increasing the knowledge of Jack’s susceptibility to aggression and drinking. It also works to build the conflicting parental tensions later in the film. This all culminates in re-enforcing the misdirection – making it more believable that Jack’s destructive personality (combined with cabin fever isolation) is causing his madness, rather than a supernatural element. This makes the moment the door bolt is opened by some unseen force, releasing Jack to do his murderous bidding, all the more impactful.
These longer and more detailed scenes are, however, few and far between. The majority of the footage is small cuts and extensions of truncated segments. These give a wider portrayal of both the scale and layout of the hotel as well as life within. The initial tour is longer and Wendy is seen more in domestic situations. Mostly incidental moments continue throughout, such as a scene where Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) phones from the airport to hire a Snowcat.
This all goes to display a more realistic life within the hotel. When explaining the film, Kubrick himself said, “in fantasy you want things to have the appearance of being as realistic as possible. People should behave in the mundane way they normally do”. So, when we see Wendy using an industrial can opener or wheeling a trolley through the labyrinthine Overlook corridors not only does it impress the sheer size of the place but it presents the truths of living within such a building.
The extended run time does have a negative impact on some elements which are more successful in the European version. The inclusion of these more banal scenes means that the pacing is slightly slow. For example, we already know Dick Hallorann is on his way to the hotel, but the US version shows more snippets of his journey. Another interesting point is that there are several scenes with TVs in the US version, which have been completely omitted in the shorter version; this serves to give more of a sense of claustrophobia and being cut off from the outside world.
As the plot reaches its terrifying climax, where Wendy is presented with the supernatural truth and runs through the hotel confronted with party going spectres, there are some extra moments. She comes face to face with a cobwebbed room inhabited by lifeless skeletons, all sat in ghostly positions as if the hotel instantly consumed them. Whilst this new scene builds a more dramatic crescendo it also looks pretty dated. Consequently it doesn’t make much sense that we have seen these manifestations as physical people throughout the film but they are now represented as bones.
Kubrick himself never specified a preference so we can only assume he approved both versions. Overall, the US cut is quite interesting in that it allows you to view the film from a different perspective. Regarding the scenes omitted from the International version, some work and frankly, some don’t but it allows for a longer look into the hotel and the terrifying horror of its secrets. For the more hardcore fans looking for a consistent meaning, you won’t find it, so it might be best to listen to the director himself: “A story of the supernatural cannot be taken apart and analysed too closely…If you submit it to a completely logical and detailed analysis it will eventually appear absurd.”
Either way, this Halloween you should “GO CHECK IT OUT…..check it out”.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Thomas Nightingale
