The Shining - A psychological thriller

The Shining relates in many ways to other psychological thrillers. A psychological thriller is a sub genre of a thriller whereby the director uses elements that relates to the mind or the processes of the mind. They are mental rather than physical in nature. The main characters are usually more reliant on mental resources instead of physical strength to overcome their issues. There are many different conventions featured in “The Shining” that relate to the thriller genre and help make the film a more tense and suspense filled great. A film that is extremely disturbing but yet compels the viewer to see more. Kubrick made sure that this film would be perfect in all respects and made no mistakes. He understood how to capture the audience and how to really disturb them with chilling and menacing moments. The whole film including the camera movement, shots, angles and sounds all combined together with such perfection that the audience is completely inhaled in the intense, exhilarating madness that is “The Shining”.

The soundtrack in this film relates to other psychological thrillers such as Alfred Hitchcock’s, “Psycho”. The music in “The Shining” seems to have a huge effect on the audience due to the constant music playing and the overall constant disturbing scenes. The extremely eerie atmosphere that the non-diegetic sound creates is discordant. It completely controls the viewer and they feel disturbed by the weird and generally frightening sounds that are being created. While the music is being played the audience can hear the strange sounding music and it is completely unique. No other film is created with such perfect timing of music and just generally perfect music for the scenes. The scenes are completely changed (for the better) with the music as it is used collectively with the scene making the scene have a larger impact on the already disturbed audience.

The whole setting of the “The Shining” may not be in a confined space. But a claustrophobic feel is created as a result of how the characters are completely isolated from the rest of society in a huge hotel in harsh weather conditions. There is no possible way for the family to escape and they have to live with each other peacefully for many months. But obviously this is not the case and there emotions and psychological consciousnesses really make the audience feel the characters struggle to escape and even the audience feel claustrophobic as a result. You feel completely involved with the film and feel disturbed and horrified at such instances when Jack tries to kill his wife (Wendy) as she has tried to escape from the mentally insane Jack but finds there’s no way out. The audience are completely distraught with what Wendy must be feeling and her emotions in the film rub off on the audience. The feeling of confined spaces is a typical convention of a thriller genre.

How the camera is used throughout the film is spectacular, it manipulates the audience with quick zooms, tilted angles and a hand held camera to create tension and visual distortion. The sense of danger and panic was conveyed by the camera as much as it was my the narrative elements in “The Shining” showing how all the different devices work collectively with such impact onto the audience. Kubrick uses the stedicam shots throughout the film creating a elegant and fluid sense of menace. This contrasts with the majority of thrillers which use a more distorted and frantic style of filming so confuses the audience when Kubrick uses this technique. Confusing the audience helps them to feel even more disturbed as it is out of context to the scenes. An example of this is when Danny is riding his tricycle around the hotel and then he acknowledges the two twins. A truly terrific visual scene. Kubrick’s editing in both the classical and montage style heightens suspense, creates dramatic tension, and suggests Danny’s psychological state.

In conclusion to this highly prestigious psychological thriller, all the different techniques Kubrick uses are all to enhance the audiences emotions and general uneasiness. Without the perfectionism is Stanley Kubrick and the constant takes of the film to make it just right are all beneficial to the final product which leaves the viewer constantly anticipating and in a unusual position of suspense. A lot of the typical thriller conventions are used but in a completely unique style making the audience feel like they are controlled emotionally by the scene taking place. The eeriness of the film creates a disturbing and frightening atmosphere which helps to makes the audience feel more involved and psychologically thrilled.