How the Shining Is the Blueprint for All Horror Movies

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, released in 1980, undoubtedly provided a framework for horror films in the modern age of filmmaking. Jack Torrence, played by Jack Nicholson, is given a job opportunity to oversee the Overlook Hotel during the winter. Here, he is sent into a psychological spiral that causes him to turn violently against his child, Danny, and his wife. Within the horror genre, there is no individual way to make a successful scary movie, but rather a collection of conventions that make the film seem genuinely reasonable. Conventions are the elements of a movie that are typically expected by an audience; in horror, they force the viewer to the edge of their seat. Each horror convention, from the score to the lighting, exemplifies the horror genre through Kubrick’s stylistic choices. 

This goes further into common motifs, such as the color red and mazes reappearing throughout the film. The horror genre commonly uses this color to show fear, blood, or perhaps a walking target. Jack Torrence’s child, Danny rides a red trike throughout the Overlook Hotel and is commonly seen wearing a red shirt with blue overalls, symbolically proving how the ghosts target him in the hotel, but also his father. Similarly, in the bathroom scene between Jack and a butler at the hotel, the audience is faced with a flashy red bathroom which contrasts with the low-key lighting featured at the party emulating a feeling of claustrophobia and alertness. Here, this essence furthers the complexity of the red, allowing it to have different meanings in different situations. These examples from The Shining Kubricks’ elaborate aesthetic provide a strong grounding for other, modern directors to use. Ultimately, this Kubrick’s technique spreads a great influence on current cinematography, lighting, and indubitably, horror. 

Kubrick's aesthetic is replicated in many current horror films; however, one director has openly spoken about Kubrick’s influence in his life. Jordan Peele is a young director who has most notably created three films: Get Out, Us, and Nope. Throughout his claim to fame, he has accurately blended the horror and drama genres creating a new version of the classic thriller known today. The way he has done so has been by adopting Kubrick’s methods, motifs, and character development. 

For example, red is equally as prominent in Get Out as in The Shining. The protagonist, Chris Washington, is seen wearing red in the beginning, while his manipulative girlfriend is wearing blue. The former places Chris as the target, but later in the film, Chris is seen as the only person not wearing red. By the time the Armitage secret society arrives, it becomes evident how the group wants to be seen, and the color red reflects that sentiment entirely. 

Plus it’s worth noting Peele’s homage to The Shining halfway through Get Out when Chris’s best friend Rod is on the phone and the words “Flight 237” echo through the ambiance of the airport. This is none other than a reference to the hotel room Danny discovers in The Shining––Room 237. 

Although Get Out is only one example of many, The Shining was a revolutionary film for its time as it explored horror conventions such as isolation, fear, mental illness, and duality. These same themes find themselves in the horror films we know and love. Even though the storyline for The Shining is generic for a typical horror movie, it has been the blueprint for other horror movies that have grown from these techniques and invented some of their own.