We love our metal here at Metal Injection… but we dig movies too! Welcome to Cinema Fix, a movie guide tailored for the metal faithful. Sit back and relax after a long week of work and/or blast beats and enjoy one of our prestigious film selections. This week's pick is:
The Shining (1980)
Quick Pitch:
Extreme Cinema For Extreme People
Synopsis:
Jack Torrance is a struggling writer who accepts a position as winter caretaker of an isolated hotel in the Colorado Rockies, hoping to end a long bout of writers block. Despite learning the gruesome fate of the previous caretaker, who succumbed to cabin fever and brutally murdered his family before killing himself, Jack relocates his wife Wendy and young son Danny, to The Overlook Hotel. Danny is a quiet and especially sensitive child, possessing a form of telepathic clairvoyance that allows him to see into the hotel’s dark past, and his families own troubled future. Danny’s extrasensory perception, dubbed the shining, makes him frighteningly aware of the evil, supernatural forces that haunt the Overlook grounds, just as his dad’s violent tendencies and addiction to alcohol makes Jack an easy target for these same spirits to manipulate. Danny must convince his mom of their dire situation, before Jack spirals further into madness and the Torrance family becomes the latest victims of The Overlook Hotel.
Why it’s metal:
It’s The Shining! Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece of mind bending cinema isn’t just one of the best horror films ever made, it’s one of the best movies around, period. The spooky, haunted hotel creates axe-murdering maniac story, is adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name; but Kubrick’s film is a completely different beast than the original source material altogether. Its Kubrick’s chilling cinematic craftsmanship that has resonated with film/horror/metal nerds since the film’s release almost 40 years ago. The iconic, mega creepy visuals, insanely foreboding and unhinged musical score, as well as the over the top performances Kubrick coaxed out of his cast [like virtually torturing Shelley Duvall onset] has helped keep The Shining fresh after four decades, and will continue to unnerve/terrify generations to come…like old Sabbath records, this film will never be outdated.
Kubrick’s masterful and unorthodox directing is what makes The Shining so unsettling. The crazy symmetrical and OCD level implementation of one point perspective shots, his camera team’s pioneering use of Steadicam rigs to achieve frighteningly omniscient angles:
to the insane; record breaking number of takes Kubrick filmed [127 takes for the baseball bat scene w/ Jack Nicholson and Duvall…127! ] throughout the movie all prove that The Shining is really an exercise in extreme film making. Extreme movies for extreme people. Hence the love from metal heads, now and forever.
Doctor Sleep just cane out and is adapted from King’s novel of the same name, which catches up with Danny Torrance as an adult…thus it’s kiiiiiiiind of a sequel to Kubrick’s film. Will it live up the The Shining?! What do you think?
Suggested listening:
Slipknot – "Spit it Out"
This music video homage to The Shining is all kinds of great w/ Cory, Jim and Joey as the metal cosplay Torrance family, check it out!
OR
Ice Nine Kills – “Enjoy Your Slay” Featuring Sam Kubrick
This song is a love letter to The Shining and features Stanley Kubrick’s grandson on guest vocals [Sam played guitar and sang in UK metalcore band Shields, before they split last year].
