History Film / TheShining

Although it achieved decent commercial success at the box office, the film was seen as a critical disappointment at the time of its release in 1980, with its most notable detractor being [[CreatorBacklash Stephen King himself]], who ''hated'' it for the numerous alterations and creative liberties Kubrick took with the film compared to the events of the novel, to the point that he would choose to write and produce his own more faithful adaptation of the book as a TV miniseries in 1997. However, [[VindicatedByHistory these days]], ''The Shining'' is near-universally regarded as a masterwork of horror cinema, and one of the most influential, widely discussed, and widely referenced films the genre has ever seen. Even King himself would eventually come around to regard Kubrick's film as good on its own merits, but would still consider it a poor adaptation of his book, a consensus generally shared by King fans and Kubrick fans alike.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* CallForward: Danny's InUniverseNickname is [[Film/DoctorSleep "Doc".]]

** When Hallorann walks down the empty lobby hallway, [[NothingIsScarier everything is silent]]...[[spoiler:until Jack, letting out a battle cry, suddenly emerges from behind one of the pillars and buries his axe in Hallorann's chest]].
** The famous image of [[spoiler:Jack frozen to death]] comes up out of nowhere accompanied by a ScareChord after Jack slumps to the ground in the maze.

* ReCut: When the film premiered, it had a final scene in which Ullman visits Wendy and Danny at the hospital and explains that [[spoiler:[[NeverFoundTheBody Jack's body could not be found]]]]. About three weeks into release, Kubrick ordered this scene [[DeletedScene excised]] from all prints.

--->'''Jack Torrance''': Get him out of here? You mean just…leave the hotel? It is so *fucking* typical of you to create a problem like this when I finally have a chance to accomplish something...When I'm *really* into my work...I could really write my own ticket if I went back to Boulder now, couldn't I? Shoveling out driveways? Workin' in a carwash? Does that *appeal* to you...Wendy, I have let you fuck up my life so far, but I am *not* going to let you fuck this up!

--->'''Jack Torrance''': Get him out of here? You mean just…leave the hotel? It is so fucking typical of you to create a problem like this when I finally have a chance to accomplish something. Wendy, I have let you fuck up my life so far, but I’m not going to let you fuck this up!

* HateSink:

* JerkassWoobie: Jack, a very flawed man (an abusive alcoholic specifically) who deep down ''does'' truly love his family, is turned into an absolute murderous monster by the sinister influence of the Overlook, resulting in [[spoiler:his murder of an innocent man, the intense traumatization of his family, and his own lonely death.]]

* AxCrazy: Jack is perhaps the most iconic example of this trope in film toward the end, when he tries to murder his wife and son with {{an axe|to grind}}.

* OffingTheOffspring: In the climax, [[spoiler:crazed Jack goes after Danny outside in the heavily snowed-in hedge maze with the full intent of killing his own son. What makes this worse it that Wendy is inside the house desperately searching for Danny and has absolutely no idea where he is.]]

** [[spoiler: Ironically, it's one of the few things that Kubrick confirmed about the film: it's meant to imply that Jack, like Charles Grady, was a reincarnation of a former official at the Overlook and that the evil powers inside the hotel reclaim souls in order to sustain their own powers.]]

* FanDisservice: The beautiful girl in the bathroom. She appears ''fully naked and upfront'', yet it still looks creepy rather than sexy. [[FetishRetardant On top of that]], she turns into [[spoiler:''a rotting, old corpse-woman who cackles and reaches out for Jack in the creepiest manner possible!'']]

** Used in the scene with the naked woman, crossed with TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf. As Jack is caressing and kissing the woman, he looks into the mirror and is horrified to find himself [[spoiler:embracing an old, rotting, naked woman]].

* FanDisservice: The beautiful girl in the bathroom. She appears ''fully naked and upfront'', yet it still looks creepy rather than sexy. [[FetishRetardant On top of that]], she turns into [[spoiler:''a rotten, naked, old corpse-woman who cackles and reaches out for Jack in the creepiest manner possible!'']]
** The shots of her naked are also inter cut with shots of Jack's psychotic face, which would be a real mood killer even if the scene wasn't already creepy.

* UncannyValley: Deliberately invoked by Nicholson's acting toward the beginning of the film. He seems to be cheery and dapper, but there's just something ''off'' about it, and it all feels horribly phony. Most likely done to call attention to his [[INeedAFreakingDrink need for a drink]].

!!This film provides examples of:

* BlackComedy: "Little pigs... little pigs... let me come in! *Cut to Wendy grabbing a knife* "Not by the hair on our chinny-chin-chin? *beat* Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll BLOW YOUR HOUSE IN!" Followed by the famous "Here's Johnny!" line.

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: It's kept deliberately vague whether the strange goings-on at the Overlook are real or just a product of Jack's (or Wendy's) deteriorating mental state.

* UglyAllAlong: Jack approaches a beautiful naked woman in Room 237's bathroom and makes out with her. However, as they embrace, she reveals her true self as the ghost of a grotesque old woman and laughs at his disgust.
* UncannyValley: Deliberately invoked by Nicholson's acting towards the beginning of the film; he seems to be cheery and dapper, but there's just something ''off'' about it, and it all feels horribly phony. Most likely done to call attention to his [[INeedAFreakingDrink need for a drink]].
* UnreliableNarrator: Creator/RogerEbert argued that what makes the film so disturbing is that ''all'' of the main characters might be examples of this -- the audience is never given unambiguous evidence that any of Jack, Wendy, or Danny's perspectives is objective and accurate. Ebert did, however, note that this trope could only go so far, citing the film's original ending as bringing up too many unanswerable questions to the point of shattering the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief; Kubrick excised this scene after the world premiere, a change that Ebert consequently felt was for the best.

** Mr. Delbert Grady telling Jack as he cleans him up in the restroom that [[spoiler: he was the hotel caretaker in the previous life.]]
---> '''Delbert Grady''': [[spoiler: I'm sorry to differ with you, sir... but you are the caretaker. You've ''always'' been the caretaker. I should know, sir. I've always been here.]]

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Jack's fake plea of "[[CrocodileTears Wendy?]] [[ManipulativeBastard Baby?]] I think you hurt my head ''real bad''..." when she locks him in the pantry. Luckily, she doesn't fall for it and leaves.

* StopCopyingMe: In the bat scene, when Jack asks Wendy when Danny should be taken to a doctor, her response is a high-pitched "As soon as possible?". Jack then repeats her in an even shriller, more pathetic voice. It's a [[BlackComedy deranged, twisted sort of amusing]].
* SurrealHorror: The movie doesn't explain many of the strange things that happen in the hotel. It is also left deliberately vague whether or not there are supernatural causes at work, or just figments of the characters' imaginations. Apparently, Kubrick screened ''Film/{{Eraserhead}}'' for the crew to show them the kind of atmosphere he wanted to convey in the film.
* TapOnTheHead: Wendy hits Jack on the head with a baseball bat and he falls down a flight of stairs. It's unclear which actually knocks him unconscious, but either way he's awake less than an hour later with a headache and a small gash on his head, as well as a bum leg for his trouble.
* TemptingFate: Jack tells Ullman that solitude and isolation will not become problems for him while looking after the hotel.
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: It's kept deliberately vague whether the strange goings-on at the Overlook are real or just a product of Jack's deteriorating mental state. [[spoiler: Though ''Film/DoctorSleep'' later confirms that [[SubvertedTrope the ghosts are real]].]]

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The film is considerably more cynical than the book, which is in the middle if not slightly towards the idealistic side. Jack is presented as a morally bankrupt creep long before the Hotel got a hold of him as opposed to being a mentally troubled man driven to madness, [[spoiler: Halloran dies despite his best efforts, and the idealistic epilogue of the surviving characters is removed]] and the hotel [[spoiler: survives the events of the movie, terrorizing the world for several more decades before finally being destroyed in the sequel.]]

* RedIsViolent: Jack wears a red jacket from his nightmare scene onward, and becomes more violent and insane as the movie progresses.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Jack loses his temper and yells at Wendy when she wants them to leave the Overlook hotel and take him to a hospital.

* RoomFullOfCrazy: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." It's particularly unsettling because of the sheer ''number'' of pages, with the tacit implication that Jack has been gradually losing his mind almost from the instant the family arrived in the hotel.

* RealityWarper: The hotel is hinted as having elements of this; see AlienGeometries above, but also the last shot may imply that the spirits of the people the Overlook absorbs now exist outside time.

* JerkassWoobie: Jack, a very flawed man (an abusive alcoholic) who deep down ''does'' truly love his family, is turned into an absolute monster by the sinister influence of the Overlook, [[spoiler:resulting in his own lonely death.]]

** The scenes of Danny riding his Big Wheel through the hotel, which have no sound other than the wheels on the floor. The camera is positioned behind Danny such that we see exactly what and when he does, and we have absolutely no idea what could be hiding around any given corner...
** The scene with Hallorann navigating the empty lobby, since we know Jack is coming for him but the place is empty and silent. [[spoiler:Eventually, Jack emerges from one of the pillars and hacks him to death with an axe]].
* OffingTheOffspring: In the climax, [[spoiler:crazed Jack goes after Danny outside in the heavily snowed-in hedge maze with the full intent of killing his own son. What makes this worse it that Wendy is inside the house desperately searching for Danny, and has absolutely no idea where he is.]]

** Hallorann has a subtle one when Danny asks him if there's something about Room 237. He [[BlatantLies denies being afraid of the room, and says there's nothing in it,]] but he [[{{Foreshadowing}} warns Danny to stay out anyway.]]
** Wendy's reaction to finding Jack's manuscript and its repeated typings of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Then again when he suddenly appears behind her.
** [[spoiler:Jack has one in room 237 when he sees in the mirror that the naked woman he's embracing has become a rotting, cackling corpse.]]
** Pretty much Wendy's reaction throughout the last part of the film during Jack's rampage.
* OminousLatinChanting: As Jack is chasing down Danny through the hedge maze and Wendy is in the Overlook Hotel desperately searching for Danny, starting to hallucinate, you can hear ominous Old Church Slavonic chanting from Penderecki's ''Utrenja''.

* PaterFamilicide: Grady did this, and Jack attempts it.
* PolarMadness: A long period of isolation and Cabin Fever in the snowed-in Overlook Hotel gradually begins to wear at Jack Torrance's sanity, and the fact that he's a recovering alcoholic doesn't help. When the ghosts haunting the Hotel begin influencing him, this downward spiral ends with one murder and two attempted murders on the caretaker's conscience. For good measure, some reviewers have interpreted the film as a purely psychological thriller, claiming that the ghosts witnessed in the hotel were all imagined and Torrance's descent into madness was due entirely to mundane polar madness.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Grady refers to Hallorann as "a nigger cook". Doubles as DeliberateValuesDissonance, as Grady appears to be the ghost of a butler from the 20s.

** Jack certainly counts too. He makes the offhanded comment about the white man's burden and repeats Grady's phrase about a "nigger cook" with zero hesitation, in addition to making several misogynistic remarks about women.
* PopCulturalOsmosis: The "twins" in front of the elevator (in-universe) aren't twins at all. Just sisters who dress and look the same. Still doesn't make them [[spoiler: any less murdered by their crazy dad.]]

** While the movie departs from the book quite a bit, it can stand on its own. In fact, much of the film's deviations were for the sake of making something that could actually be pulled off in live-action, with the later miniseries demonstrating that even over a decade and a half later, it's still not a book that can easily be adapted in a visual medium.
** Room 217 from the book becomes 237, as the hotel asked them to use a room number that didn't actually exist. Depending on how you look at it, that could just make it more creepy...
** The replacement of the topiary animals with a hedge maze was done in part to avoid a potential SpecialEffectsFailure, but the maze also fits in well with the labrynthine nature of the hotel's interior.
* PrecisionFStrike: The first instance of abuse of Wendy by Jack is verbal, telling her quietly to "start [leaving him alone] right now and get the ''fuck'' out of here." As his sanity breaks, he starts using the word a little bit more liberally.
* PsychologicalHorror: It makes the supernatural elements much more ambiguous than in the books.

* PublicDomainSoundtrack: "Dies Irae" is a notable Gregorian chant dirge for Roman Requiem Mass.

* LegacyCharacter: Jack has ''always'' been the caretaker, according to Grady. It's quite a strange claim considering [[MindScrew ''Grady himself'' was once the caretaker.]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D76vyuiMgg0 Dies Irae]], whose title is a GeniusBonus -- "Day of Wrath". [[invoked]]

* TheMaze: The Overlook Hedge Maze. Wendy and Danny are shown exploring through it midway through the movie, [[spoiler:giving Danny an advantage in the finale as he flees the insane Jack through it, trapping his father there until the possessed man freezes to death.]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The film is more ambiguous towards the supernatural aspects of the story. However, the titular "Shining" is equally effective in both the film and the book - [[SpiderSense warning clearly of danger]] seconds before the axe hits the bathroom door. In fact, besides the Shining itself, there are only a few events in the film that directly imply supernatural intervention: [[spoiler:the bruises around Danny's neck]], [[spoiler:Grady unlocking the pantry door]], Wendy's vision of the tidal wave of blood coming out of the elevators, and, of course, [[spoiler:the infamous final image of Jack in a picture from 1921.]] Even then, it is still possible, according to some [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-shining-1980 critics]], to interpret the supernatural elements as hallucinations of a [[UnreliableNarrator family slowly going insane from cabin fever]].

* MinimalisticCoverArt: [[https://admin.itsnicethat.com/images/SUhab40UNteNjccdajESmrhhpdg=/52931/width-1440/556de6dd7e74a92a52e46019.jpg The American theatrical poster]], designed by acclaimed graphic designer Saul Bass, consisting solely of a pointillist, underlit face inside an otherwise all-black logotype on a bright yellow background (Bass intended for the background to be red and later created [[https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1057/4964/products/the-shining-vintage-movie-poster-original-20x27-6754.jpg?v=1544043971 an alternate version of the poster]] with this intended color choice).

** Used in the scene with the naked woman, crossed with TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf. As Jack is caressing and kissing the woman, he looks into the mirror and is horrified to find [[spoiler:he is embracing an old, rotting naked woman]].

* MythologyGag: Kubrick dispensed with several of the novel's plot points but kept references to them in the movie.
** The book explains just where Danny's imaginary friend "Tony" comes from, who the dead lady in the bathtub is, and who the person in the dog costume delivering a blowjob is. [[AdaptationExplanationExtrication The film keeps these elements but with no explanation.]]
** Kubrick did not use the novel's climax-- [[spoiler:exploding boiler destroys the hotel]]-- but still showed [[spoiler:the boiler]] in a couple of scenes.
** Jack wears a Stovington Prep shirt in a few scenes, which is the school he was fired from in the book.
* NeverFoundTheBody: In the original theatrical release, Wendy was informed Jack's body was missing. It was removed a week after release at Kubrick's own request, and most reviewers agreed with the choice, as it accidentally opened up a large number of plot holes that its absence consequently disposes of.
* NeverTrustATrailer: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b726feAhdU original trailer for the movie]] shows the credits overlaid over the elevator doors, and then a torrent of blood flooding the hallway and blanketing the camera. While this scene does appear in the movie, it hints at a much gorier, murder-heavy film than it actually is. Particularly when you consider that [[spoiler:only two characters die, and only one of those is murdered.]]
* NightmareSequence: As counts as {{Foreshadowing}}. Jack has a nightmare where he killed Wendy and Danny and laments that he is losing his mind.

** Jack Torrance, unlike his literary counterpart, is reimagined as a self-centered, abusive, and possibly racist father and husband. He views his wife as only being good enough to have his child, and he was also dismissive towards his son Danny. When the hotel starts to corrupt him, Jack destroys the radio to strand his family in the hotel before trying to kill them.
** The [[EldritchLocation Overlook Hotel]] drives its inhabitants to murderous insanity ending with the deaths of the caretakers and their families. In the first film, it compels Jack Torrance into attempting to kill Danny and Wendy and in the sequel, possesses a grownup Danny to force him into going after Abra. When Danny regains control of his body, the Overlook feebly attempts to save itself from destruction by getting Danny to turn off the boiler.
* HedgeMaze: The Overlook has an iconic one [[AdaptationExpansion not present in the book]][[note]]the book instead featured [[Series/DoctorWho Weeping Angel]]-style topiaries, which Kubrick deemed impossible to effectively incorporate with the technology that was available at the time[[/note]], the perfect place for a scary chase scene. There is also a [[OnlyAModel scale model]] inside the hotel.
* HellHotel: One of the most iconic examples of all time-- the Overlook Hotel is an unexplainable EldritchLocation that drives its inhabitants insane and [[AmbiguousEnding (possibly?)]] absorbs their soul.
* HeroesGoneFishing: Danny having ice cream with Hallorann, as well as him and Wendy walking around the maze, him playing with his toys, and riding around the hallways on his tricycle.
* HistoryRepeats: From the start of the film, during his interview for the winter caretaker job, Jack is warned that the last guy who took the job murdered his family and then himself. [[AxCrazy Take three guesses as to what happened to Jack]] [[SanitySlippage over the course of the film]]...
** Taken up a notch with the iconic final image, a cryptic photograph dating back to 1921 [[spoiler:which has Jack in the foreground. Interpretations have come to conclusions commonly fitting under the idea that Jack has been absorbed into the hotel along with all the other ghostly "guests" in the picture, and the Jack we see in the movie is a reincarnation]].
* INeverToldYouMyName: When Hallorann calls little Danny Torrance "Doc", Wendy asks how he knew that's what they call him. Hallorann answers by saying Danny just looks like a Doc, but the real reason is that Danny and Hallorann both share a psychic ability, "[[TitleDrop the Shining]]".

* InsanityEstablishmentScene: Wendy finds out that Jack's lost his marbles when she reads his "novel", which is just the sentence "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over again.
* JoinUsDrone: The infamous Grady girls scene when they implore Danny to "play" with them. Doesn't help that Danny sees a quick flash of their dead bodies after they were murdered by their father when they do.
-->'''Grady girls''': Come play with us Danny, forever and ever and ever.

** When Danny rides his tricycle down a hallway and comes face to face with the Grady Twin ghost girls, complete with a ScareChord.

** Whenever the screen time-jumps from "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Friday" and "Saturday" accompanied by a ScareChord.
* KarmaHoudini: [[EldritchLocation The Overlook Hotel]] is SparedByTheAdaptation after it drives Jack to homicidal madness, and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

* LargeHam: Jack Torrance, [[{{JustForFun/Troperithmetic}} summed up by]] "Jack Nicholson hardly does a subdued performance" + "EvilIsHammy". (Creator/StevenSpielberg first stated to Kubrick he felt Nicholson was too over-the-top. Kubrick replied by comparing him to Creator/JamesCagney)
* LegacyCharacter: Jack has ''always'' been the caretaker, according to Grady.

* DualityMotif: The film uses a lot of this, with mirror reflections, opposites (renovated/modern vs. retained/original rooms) and symmetrical items such as double-doors, to reinforce the dual-nature of the hotel (which is practically a character itself) as well as Jack Torrance with his inner demons. When the twins turn around they pivot in a very strange-looking way as if they were joined at the hip.
* EldritchAbomination: One interpretation is that the ''hotel itself'' is one. When it sleeps, only those with "shining" (i.e. clairvoyance) can see its true nature. But when Jack enters it, it senses a ready-made victim, slowly coming awake and revealing itself to him, its ''presence'' becoming strong enough to take over Jack's mind completely, and begin to slowly destroy Danny's unprotected mind. [[spoiler:When it fully awakens at the very end, powered by Jack's murderous insanity, ''even Wendy'', neither clairvoyant nor insane, can see the horrors erupting all around her. She and Danny ultimately escape-- but Jack is swallowed up by it at the end, as indicated by the 1921 photograph. Forever, and ever, and ever...]]

* EvilEyebrows: Even if you knew nothing about Jack Nicholson before seeing this movie, you'd still be able to guess what's going to happen to him just by looking at his eyebrows alone, to the point where King objected to the casting of Nicholson and begged Kubrick to reconsider, having written Jack in the book as a genuinely admirable family man who becomes corrupted by outside influences.
* EvilLaugh: Jack lets out several during the course of his breakdown, such as the little creepy chuckle he gives out after he says "I'm gonna bash [your brains] right the fuck in!" to Wendy.
* FanDisservice: The hot girl in the bathroom. She appears ''fully naked and upfront'', yet it still looks creepy rather than sexy. [[FetishRetardant On top of that]], she turns into [[spoiler:''a rotten naked old corpse-woman who cackles in the creepiest manner possible!'']]

** Grady acts very polite toward Jack, but he clearly becomes mad when Jack reminds him about the way he killed his family, causing him to [[TranquilFury calmly state that he "corrected" them]], before convincing Jack to kill his family as well.

** Creator/StephenKing himself considered Jack Nicholson's casting to be sort of a spoiler in this regard also, considering Nicholson's best-known film at the time was ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' -- where he plays a "crazy" guy.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: As Wendy and Danny find their way around the maze, Jack is seen looking at a scale model of it inside the hotel. At the end of the film, he chases Danny into the maze [[spoiler:and gets lost in it, freezing to death, while Danny is able to escape.]]
** Jack's description of his nightmare, where he killed Wendy and Danny and laments that he thinks he's losing his mind.

* {{Gaslighting}}: The film does this to the viewer in a number of subtle ways, from disappearing/reappearing furniture to the AlienGeometries mentioned above. It adds to the mazelike quality of the Hotel, increasing the tension.

* AGodAmI: A very subtle visual cue -- when Jack is looking over the HedgeMaze model as Wendy and Danny play in the real one, emphasizing how much his existence dominates them.

* JoinUsDrone: The infamous Grady Twins scene when they implore Danny to "play" with them. Doesn't help that Danny sees a quick flash of their dead bodies after they were murdered by their father when they do.
-->'''Twins''': Come play with us Danny, forever and ever and ever.

* PopCulturalOsmosis: The twins in front of the elevator (in-universe) aren't twins at all. Just sisters who dress and look the same. Still doesn't make them [[spoiler: any less murdered by their crazy dad.]]

* ChekhovsGun: The store room in the kitchen. Hallorann shows it to Wendy and Danny early on, then after knocking Jack out with a baseball bat, Wendy locks him in there.
** The hedge maze.Wendy and Danny are seen walking through it soon after arriving at the hotel, then Jack chases Danny into it at the end. [[spoiler:Danny tricks Jack by following his footsteps to escape, and Jack ends up freezing to death in the maze.]]

* ColorMotif: The Overlook is brimming with this. Primary palettes for the hotel itself include various shades of red/deep (almost brown) red, orange, yellow, green, and blue/steel-blue. Danny and Wendy are also dressed in almost identical bright blue and red-patterned clothes.
* CoordinatedClothes: The creepy sisters wear the same light blue dresses with pink ribbons. The identical look multiplies the creep out factor.
* CorneredRattlesnake: Wendy, who is reduced to a screaming, teary-eyed blubbering mess wielding a knife after much psychological abuse from Jack.
* CoitusInterruptus: When walking up the stairs, Wendy stumbles upon the scene of a man in a bear-suit blowing another man in their hotel room. They stop when they hear Wendy and the look they give her for interrupting them is downright terrifying.
* CreepyDollhouse: A common variant. The Overlook Hotel contains a model not of itself, but of the HedgeMaze that exists on its grounds. Jack obsessively watches over it as Wendy and their son Danny explore the actual real-life hedge maze. This is portrayed very creepily, and accompanied by a ScareChord, as it represents Jack's growing allegiance with the hotel and isolation from his family.
* CreepyTwins: Grady's daughters are one of the most famous examples, the TropeCodifier, and provide the trope's image. Actually, they are specifically described in both book and film as not twins (ages 8 and 10) but in the movie they were played by real-life twin actresses. However, one is a little taller than the other, so it gives the impression of an age difference.
* DangerousClifftopRoad: The Torrances are shown driving around a cliff on their way to the Overlook Hotel for the winter. It shows that they're extremely isolated, vulnerable to the weather, and creates a very foreboding atmosphere.
* DaylightHorror: As horrific as it is, there are few scenes that are literally dark. It's a well-lit movie.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Implied to be the case with the ghosts, with the Overlook merely assuming their forms. Grady, for instance, starts off kindly and incredibly cordial, but the moment Jack recognises him and mentions the murder of his wife and children at his hands, his entire demeanour changes and starts radiating pure malevolence.
* DeadlyEuphemism: Grady advises Jack that Wendy and Danny should be "corrected". With an axe.

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Dick Hallorann]] survives the book but dies the minute [[spoiler:he returns to the Overlook]].

* BigDamnHeroes: Subverted. [[spoiler:Hallorann spends some time traveling back to the Overlook, only to have his grand rescue cut short when he gets an axe to the chest courtesy of Jack, only a few minutes after he arrives. The fact that he brought a vehicle allows Wendy and Danny to escape, however.]]

** The vision of the two Grady girls, post-hacking, is pretty hemo-tacular itself [[note]]It's even the main pic on the trope's page[[/note]].

* AlienGeometries: The layout of the hotel makes no sense whatsoever. Stuart Ullman's office has a nice big window in the middle of the building; the Colorado Room has multiple floor to ceiling windows with a mystery hallway behind them. The hotel interiors have nice right angles while the outside doesn't. The freezer flips sides of the hallway between shots. There are doorways to rooms that would overlap other rooms, the hotel exterior, stairways, or elevators. The establishing shot of the hotel contains no trace of the hedge maze, which also changes layout between scenes. The Gold Room doesn't seem to connect to any other part of the hotel, and nowhere on the outside of the hotel do we see where the Overlook might be hiding that massive ballroom. Stanley Kubrick being Stanley Kubrick, it's extremely likely that this was all done on purpose for dramatic/horror effect. And indeed, it's really freaky following the Torrences through the empty, labyrinthine hotel and feeling that something's ''not quite right'' and you're being misled...

* {{Angrish}}: An AxCrazy Jack Torrance falls into these near the end of the movie when he is reduced to only being able to moan like a wounded animal.
* AnimalMotifs: Tying in with the theme of implied sexual abuse, bears appear a bit throughout the film, usually regarding Danny. Early on we see Danny with a bear pillow right beside his head, and in his room in the hotel, there is a photo of two bears (one sitting, one standing) right above his bed. And then of course towards the end there's the man in the bear suit who Wendy sees in one of the bedrooms.
* ArcSymbol: Mirrors. Mirrors appear in every scene where Jack is with Grady (except when Jack talks to him through the store room door, as we don't see Grady in this scene) as well as on the wall outside the Gold Room and in room 237's bathroom. Also, when Wendy sees "redrum" written in lipstick on the bathroom door, she sees it in a mirror, where it reads "Murder".

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Despite being tied to a party of ghosts from 1921, "Midnight, the Stars and You" was first published in 1934 -- 13 years ''after'' the Independence Day Ball whose photograph hangs in the hotel. All other dance band songs heard in the background similarly date from the early '30s.