The Shining (US Version runtime 2:23:45) - Patreon Version
Added 2025-02-04 17:00:06 +0000 UTCHellooooo! Hope you're all ready for a classic horror movie!
What an amazing film... I'm so glad you all voted for us to watch this movie because WOW. Everything about it was incredible. And perfect timing with all this snow!
Comments
Oooo good tip about the hedge. I'll have to remember that haha. You never know!
Chandra
2025-02-06 23:21:58 +0000 UTCI really like the reincarnation theme you mentioned. After reading all this, I want to see it again... I bet I'd get even more out of it!
Chandra
2025-02-06 23:20:46 +0000 UTCThere is a sequel called Doctor Sleep and it’s fantastic
Derwin Riley
2025-02-05 22:32:59 +0000 UTCAwesome. It was interesting to watch this movie with you guys again. It's a masterpiece and I'm afraid of reading the book, I don't want it to spoil the movie for me
David
2025-02-05 21:15:53 +0000 UTCMost of the movie references are ones you'd know even without having watched the movies, like truly iconic characters and items. Or they're so subtle in the background even those that know can miss them, for example I missed the Pee-wee's Bid Adventure one the first couple watch throughs even though it's one of my favorite movies. Just Easter Eggs in the background. For me a lot of it was the "newer" video games, since I'm not a modern gamer. Personally I think you'd be fine to watch it at this point.
Kenton Kruger
2025-02-05 20:07:27 +0000 UTCHard to say... there are lists of the references but it would be a spoiler for you to look at it. You've seen at least some of the movies, as well as have heard of or played the games referenced in the movie. You can check it out at your leisure or react to it.
ButtercupsTrueLove
2025-02-05 05:55:00 +0000 UTCWe've heard Ready Player One is super fun! But you need to have seen lots of movies before hand I think? I just wonder if we've seen enough of the ones it references to be able to appreciate it!
Chandra
2025-02-05 05:14:13 +0000 UTCThanks for your first-time viewing and reaction. I watched along with "The Shining" on Amazon Prime Video. Even though the listed running time was 2 hours 17 minutes, it synced perfectly with the version that Chandra and Jordan reacted to. If our Maplenuts watch Spielberg's "Ready Player One" sometime in the not too distant future, they might get a kick out of the homage to pop culture in that film. I have watched the sequel film to "The Shining" based on Stephen King's later novel, "Doctor Sleep", and King was pleased with that film's adaptation. I also liked HBO's "The Outsider" limited series, based on King's work.
ButtercupsTrueLove
2025-02-05 03:53:45 +0000 UTCThis was one of my favorite reactions you have done. One of the main things I love about this movie is the score, it's just so grating and in some scenes not appropriate to what's going on. Along with the super long shots that after awhile make you wanna scream "Cmon something happen!!", then nothing. Really keeps you tense and not able to breathe the entire movie. The Stanley hotel is what inspired this one I believe. If you want a fun little vlog, another reactor I watch, Ashleigh Burton and her husband stayed at the Stanley hotel, which is supposedly haunted. Thanks for the awesome video! Ps...pro tip for hedge or any real maze. Place your right hand on the wall as you enter and follow that wall to the exit. Never get lost. Pps..alot of Stephen Kings novels have places or objects that are the main "bad guy" and inherently evil. This hotel, the town of Derry Maine in many of his books. Other Kubrik I really like: A Clockwork Orange 2001 A Space Odyssey Not Kubrick-Dr Sleep is the sequel to this.
Ian A
2025-02-05 02:45:32 +0000 UTCAlso famously The Simpsons did one of their Halloween specials on 3 Stephen King stories. One was The Shining inspired. Bob's Burgers S1 Episode 2 The Crawlspace is also Shining inspired.
John Colson
2025-02-05 02:00:28 +0000 UTCOh that's so cool! I've got to keep an eye out for more references like that
Chandra
2025-02-05 01:55:09 +0000 UTCTo the awesome couple in THE GREAT WHITE NORTH, South Park season 16 episode 12 will make the movie a fun experience. I just wish I could send you guys lots of Godzilla and Kraft Dinner stuff. You don't need it, but it's goofy.
packersamurai
2025-02-05 01:31:25 +0000 UTCOh wow, that's soooo many!!
Chandra
2025-02-05 01:27:37 +0000 UTCCanada and The Maplenuts ROCK!
packersamurai
2025-02-05 00:43:35 +0000 UTCBTW, if you ever watch the movie POPEYE, Shelly Duvall is a perfect Olive Oil. ROFLMAO!
packersamurai
2025-02-05 00:42:24 +0000 UTCI'm so happy you guys are watching a Stanley Kubrick movie. Like Sam Raimi, Kubrick has an incredible style. He drove his actors nuts because he'd do near a hundred takes to get the perfect delivery and shot.
packersamurai
2025-02-05 00:40:17 +0000 UTCFor now, I'm just watching the YouTube cut because I just saw this 2 weeks ago at my local theater (probably my 20th time on the big screen). For my next viewing (which won't be too long, Kubrick is my favorite Director) I'll watch your full watchalong. The Shining (film) is probably a low level obsession of mine 😂 I even have area rugs of the hallway carpet pattern. People come over and instantly recognize it Also, the amount of Homage paid to this film throughout TV and films afterwards is astounding. For example, (don't worry SPOILER FREE because you haven't finished the series) Breaking Bad In terms of iconic imagery, it’s hard to get more iconic than the spooky axe-murdered Grady twins in The Shining, unless you think of the spooky axe-murdering Salamanca twins on Breaking Bad. And their connection isn’t a coincidence: At the beginning of season Three’s “Sunset,” the Salamancas kill a police officer with an axe right to the head. Just before, we hear the officer on his radio. “KDK-12 to dispatch,” he says. KDK-12 should sound familiar, because Wendy says it about fifteen times in The Shining — it’s the radio call letters for the Overlook Hotel.
John Colson
2025-02-04 22:43:11 +0000 UTCI think you're forgetting the "Tuesday" and "Wednesday" jumpscares, lol.
Funk McPuke
2025-02-04 21:00:15 +0000 UTCThe chanting you can hear in the background when Wendy's running through the hotel with the knife and everything's really kicking off is a medieval melody called "Dies irae", which translates to "day of wrath" in Latin. The melody was originally used in funeral services and is a somber chant that describes the Last Judgement, when souls are summoned before God. Also, the main theme of "The Shining" was adapted from "Dies irae." Jordan was onto something with the mirrors. Although Kubrick is notoriously reluctant to talk about the meanings of his movies, it's been said that the use of mirrors, the twins, the symmetry you'll notice in shots all throughout the film, and the constant doubling of things is symbolic of our own interior lives. It's the inside and the outside, the reflection of your outer self and your true, inner self. Or maybe "this world" and "that world"? Idk. Speaking of Kubrick not discussing the meanings of his movies, let's talk about the ending of this one: I've always interpreted it the same way you two did, that Jack was "absorbed" into the Hotel and thus his spirit is, was, and always will be there. After all, he sold his soul for that first drink and once he drank it, the deal was complete. He belonged to the Overlook. But in one of the very rare instances of Kubrick talking about the symbolism of his movies, he mentioned VERY briefly in one interview that he was playing with ideas of reincarnation and that there are certain souls who, life after life, are constantly being pulled back to a place. So, in that sense, Jack has always been there and has always been the caretaker, but it's a soul that keeps getting drawn back, regardless of what body it's in. He didn't go super into depth with it in the interview, so there's still a lot of interpretation that can happen there, but I thought that was an interesting seed of an explanation. There's another hint of this with Grady (the guy who chopped up his wife and daughters). When Jack and Grady are talking in the red bathroom during the ghost party, we hear that his name is Delbert Grady and we think, "Oh, it was that 'previous caretaker' from the paper that Jack heard about at his job interview." And Jack thinks the same thing. BUT the guy in that story was named Charles Grady and killed his family in 1970. Delbert Grady, the butler (or whatever), is apparently a different guy (though related?) from 1921. Same soul, different body? It's unclear, but Kubrick was planting seeds of reincarnated souls being lured back and trapped at the Overlook by making the same mistakes over and over again, giving in to temptation, or whatever. I haven't seen the sequel to this, "Doctor Sleep," nor have I read the book, so I don't know if it offers any answers. I keep meaning to watch it but, man, so hard to find the time. Perhaps if y'all watch it, I'll do the watchalong with you and finally knock it off my to-watch list. Anyway, I think it's interesting to try to take apart how the Overlook operated in luring people in. E.g. with Danny -- who has a very powerful talent that the hotel might like to absorb into itself -- we see this progression: (1) The twins (just a facet of the hotel's spirit, really) spot him in the game room. They look at him curiously, then turn and smile at each other (like they recognize his power), and walk away. (2) They pop up in the hallway near 237, watching him. (3) They invite him to "come play" with them "forever and ever and ever." He, ofc, refuses that invitation. (4) A ball is rolled at him to get his attention and lure him to room 237 which is now open, where someone/something attempts to strangle him (if he's not going to accept the invitation to join the hotel willingly, it'll take him by force). (5) When the hotel lacks the power to kill him itself, it enlists the help of the guy whose soul it just purchased, Jack, to kill him. Similarly, we see Jack -- who also has a bit of the shine (not as strong as Danny's), as evidenced by various moments in the movie -- being lured down the garden path. The difference is, Jack immediately takes the bait. The hotel gives him alcohol in exchange for his soul, tempts him with a nude woman who wants to smooch him behind his wife's back (and immediately laughs mockingly at him for taking the offer), entices him to give in to his anger and get violent to "correct" his wife and kid, etc. The bad side of Jack's nature is appealed to and, in every instance, unlike Danny, he goes for it. I think it's interesting that it seems like, as the emotions run higher -- maybe just Danny's emotions, amplified by his shining powers -- the Overlook seems to be able to exert more overt influence. At first, it's just things appearing and inviting Danny and Jack to join. But then it seems to be able to muster enough power to influence the physical world in small ways by attacking Danny (though it didn't have enough power to actually finish the job) and, later, to let Jack out of the freezer. This has to require a lot of its power, though, bc if it could actually do much more than that in the physical world, it wouldn't have needed jack to kill Danny and Wendy, it could've just done it itself. So, for the most part, the Overlook acts in subtle ways, only detectable by those with some amount of shining ability. But then, by the end, it exerts more power to show weird things to Wendy to try to distract her from rescuing Danny, thus buying Jack time to chase him down and "correct" him. That's when she starts seeing the blood flood, the skeleton party, the weird furry scene in the bedroom, the injured guest saying "Great party!" and all that. It's not phsyically able to stop her, but it can try to freak her out to distract her and slow her down. Speaking of the dog-man getting saucy with the tuxedo guy in the bedroom: I've always just taken that to be there just to be weird, unsettling, and show that there's some weird, dark perversion in the hotel's past/spirit/whatever. But if you read the book, this moment is actually talked about for two pages and has to do with the owner of the Overlook (the guy in the tuxedo) and a dude named Roger whom he used, abused, and humiliated in various ways (including making him wear that outfit to one of the fancy parties and debasing himself with the guests). It was meant to illustrate the twisted power dynamic of this rich man forcing this other guy to do whatever crazy, embarrassing thing he told him to do. In the movie, obvs you don't get all this context, but I think Kubrick included it as a nod to the history (for folk who knew the book) and, even more than that, as a symbol of a twisted power dynamic where a lapdog was being forced to service its master -- much like Jack was being forced to serve the Overlook by chasing down and killing his family. Also, y'know, it slowed Wendy down by freaking her out as she'd probably never heard of "furries" in 1980 and wouldn't have any idea what freaky stuff furries get down to in their parties. And, since this comment itself has turned into a novel nearly the length of Stephen King's original book, I'll just leave you with this fun fact: I love that you guys picked up on some of the symbolism that Kubrick put into frame and sound design (e.g. the knives over Danny's head, the lyrics of the Road Runner theme on the TV, etc). It goes so much farther than that though. If you watch the movie very carefully, you'll notice that subtle things in scenes change from shot to shot. Stuff gets moved, stuff disappears and reappears, a typewriter changes color, etc. You don't overtly notice these things bc they're so small and in the background of the frame, but your brain picks up on something being off and, subconsciously, you get a feeling of unease. Basically, Kubrick tapped into the part of our primitive brains that evolved to look for small changes in patterns that might indicate danger, predators, etc. and used it to subtly heighten the sense of unease while watching the movie. Dude was a genius. OH! I lied. One last comment: When I was a very little kid, I got to meet Scatman Crothers, the guy who played Dick Halloran in "The Shining." My dad took me to a celebrity golf tournament where I got to briefly meet and get autographs from many of the big stars of the day, including many comedians, movie stars, TV stars, musicians, pro athletes, etc. Lots of big names. Most all of them were nice enough or, at the very least polite (except for Bob Hope, who was having a bad round of golf and, when I asked him for an autograph, ignored me and almost ran me over with his golf cart as he stormed off to the next tee). Scatman, however, went above and beyond and was super nice, super gracious, very funny, chatted with me for several minutes, and even did a quick song and dance for me to make me laugh. Such a nice man and, for me, such a nice moment that I've always treasured. Since you two liked him so much in this movie, I thought you might like to know that he was just as awesome IRL and, in my own experience, just as good with kids.
Funk McPuke
2025-02-04 20:48:38 +0000 UTCThis is probably the best psychological thriller of all time. Doesn’t rely on gore or jump scares. It draws you in and gets into your head. Thoroughly enjoyed watching your reactions.
Nick Stark
2025-02-04 20:24:26 +0000 UTCho no ho no no ho no no no here's johnny
scott osborne
2025-02-04 18:50:11 +0000 UTCAbsolute classic, sadly the great Shelley Duvall who played wendy died in 2024.
Scott Lindsey
2025-02-04 18:22:01 +0000 UTCREᗡЯUM!
N.T. Stars
2025-02-04 17:12:45 +0000 UTC
