The Shining (15)
Dir. Stanley Kubrick, US, 1980, 119 mins.
Cast. Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers.
Here’s Johnny!
Writer and recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance takes a job as an out-of-season caretaker and moves to an isolated hotel with his wife and their young son, Danny.
As winter sets in, the combination of solitude and strange happenings have a devastating effect on the unsuspecting family. Danny’s psychic abilities allow him unwanted glimpes into the hotel’s terrifying past and supernatural forces, while Jack becomes increasingly influenced by the malevolent spirits inhabiting the hotel. Tensions rise as Jack’s mental state declines, the unsettling scenes underscored by a chilling soundtrack featuring music by Béla Bartók.
Originally released to largely unenthusiastic reviews, Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel has since been reappraised as a landmark horror movie.
“* * * * * Ostensibly a haunted house story, it manages to traverse a complex world of incipient madness, spectral murder and supernatural visions... and also makes you jump.” – Ian Nathan, Empire
Part of our
Celluloid Psychology series
, devised by
Dr Alastair Smith
as an antidote to the usual depictions of psychology on our screens. This film has been chosen by our Director of Music,
Dr Robert Taub
as part of the
Musica Viva
concert series, which celebrates the work of Béla Bartók and the influence of folk imagery and strorytelling in cinema.
Date: Monday 27 January 2025
Time: 19:00 - 21:10
Venue: Jill Craigie Cinema, Roland Levinsky Building
Ticket information: £6, £4 concessions, free to University of Plymouth students
Age restriction: Certificate 15