Movies: They're Pretty Good!

The Shining (1980)

Travis Dudding Episode 38

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Ever wandered through the eerie hallways of Kubrick's imagination? Join me, Travis Dudding, as we unlock the dread and genius within "The Shining." Traverse the unsettling journey of the Torrance family, where the Overlook Hotel's disorienting architecture and the enigmatic Tony set the stage for a thrilling analysis. From the haunting opening sequence to the chilling presence of a spectral bartender, this episode promises to dissect the film's most compelling elements, with a sprinkle of behind-the-scenes trivia for good measure.

Feel the walls of the Overlook enclose as we scrutinize the film's portrayal of isolation and descent into madness. Witness Jack's calm in the face of gruesome stories, Wendy's compassionate strength, and Danny's unnerving encounters with the unknown. Together, we'll navigate the psychological labyrinth, as intricate as the hotel's hedge maze, piecing together the threads of tension that Kubrick masterfully weaves through his cinematic tapestry. The iconic 'Kubrick stare' and the blood-flooded elevator await us, with insights into the family dynamics that set a course towards terror.

In our climactic discussion, we confront the film's ambiguous ending and the spectral photograph that has haunted viewers for decades. Through the icy corridors and unsettling revelations, we examine Danny's ingenuity, Wendy's harrowing ordeals, and Jack's final, frozen moments. This is not merely a retelling; it's an exploration of "The Shining"'s eerie allure, a film that continues to defy and define the horror genre. So grab a blanket and prepare for a journey that promises to leave you pondering long after the credits roll.

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to another episode of Movies, colin. They're pretty good. I'm your host, travis Dutting, joining you today from my new apartment in Pullman, washington, just started the spring semester at Washington State University doing business economics. But enough about that, let's get right into the movie. So today we continue our snow but not Christmas themed month with one of my all time favorite films. Just in general. Not favorite snow films, not favorite horror films, just favorite films Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's novel the Shining. Oh, just an amazing movie. Just love it so much. Can't wait to talk about it. I just love everything about it, as you could tell from the podcast logo, which uses the carpet as the background. Just a great movie. Love it, love it so much. Big fan of it. So let's, without further ado, get right into it.

Speaker 1:

So we open on this overhead helicopter shot of a car going down a mountain road. It's supposed to be going up the Rockies to the Overlook Hotel, which is supposed to be, like I said, in the Rockies in Colorado. It's actually shot in Glacier National Park, which, as soon as I found that out, I'm like well, now I got to get over there and check it out, because that's a lot closer to me than the I mean, the Rockies aren't that far but when it's supposed to be in Colorado, not the Wyoming part of the Rockies but not only are we getting this amazingly shot sequence just of beautiful mountains and a lone car on the highway, we're getting the score, the amazing, perfect score. I love it so much. I can't put my finger on what I love so much about it, just that it's just so perfectly ominous and tone setting. But the score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind, I think, yeah, that's what? But man just love that score so much and it's very well used in Westworld, season 3. And I forget the context of it and everything but immediately recognizable. But it's just like. It's such a good like tone setting music piece that it got used appropriately in that and then it works just as well as it does in this movie. But like I said, going through the Rockies we get the opening credits in just like a very simple, straightforward font, like I'm not like a, I'm not a font guy, so I don't know exactly which font, but it's just simple baby blue letters. And then we finally get our first look at the Overlook Hotel and for this establishing shot they used the Timberline Lodge in Mount Hood, oregon, but it's really only for this initial establishing shot and for reference. And then they built an exterior replica at, I think, elstree Studios in England and then obviously all the indoor stuff as well was shot there.

Speaker 1:

And it should be noted that there are inconsistencies with that establishing shot and various shots of the exterior throughout the film, like the layout of the hotel changes and all that stuff. And depending on who you ask, if you ask most of the people in the documentary Room 237, everything's on purpose and everything's a code for something and everything represents something, or you know, basically any inconsistencies or continuity errors are on purpose and mean that Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing. So I just saved you two hours. You don't have to watch that documentary now. I mean you know there's some good information in there, but a lot of it's a little bit like okay, settle down, but yeah, a little tweaks here and there. Some of it could be on purpose. I think it is maybe supposed. I think the best theory I've heard was that it's just supposed to be like make you feel a little disoriented, that the inconsistency like subconsciously makes you feel disoriented, and if that's the case then like I applaud that. That's, that's genius right there. No matter what, like the reasoning, you know, if it was on purpose, on accident, stanley Kubrick is still a creative genius, no matter what, no matter how mean he is or any of that stuff, it's, he's a genius. That it shows.

Speaker 1:

We get a short little title card, we get a few of these throughout, just kind of established like what, what's going on. This one says, just as the interview, and we see Mr Ollman is there to meet with Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, and is waiting for him in the lobby. No, wait, no, jack has arrived in the lobby, asked at the front desk and like, oh, mr Ollman's in his office. And then it's just, you know, first door on the left, and here's one of those notable inconsistencies with the layout is that you could see, as he's going to the office, that there's obviously some sort of hallway that would go behind the office, but when he gets to the office there is a window to the outside. So it's one of those just like weird things that honestly I probably wouldn't have really noticed and tell my 20th viewing, but now that it's been pointed out, it's, it's a little, it's obvious, you know.

Speaker 1:

So we cut from the interview over to Wendy and Danny Torrance, jack's wife and son. They're at their apartment in Boulder, colorado, and they're just watching TV. Danny asks his mom about the hotel, if he's excited or if she's, like you know, happy to be going there and stuff like that, and she's like, oh yeah, like I think it'll be exciting and like what? Like what do you think? And I forget what his exact answer is, but basically the establishes that he's like nervous about it and that Tony is nervous about it. Tony, we learn, is Danny's imaginary friend and like Danny does like the voice, he does like a little finger thing like Tony. You know, I can't do the voice right now because I'm sick. Covid, of course, like I said just that, we know that Tony doesn't want to go, but he's not saying why.

Speaker 1:

Cut back to Jack. He's kind of given some information about himself. We learned that he used to be a teacher and that now he's a writer, that basically teaching was a way to make ends meet. But he what, like writings, like his main, like dream drive, all that stuff. Basically he's interviewing to be the caretaker over the winter because this place is closed from, I think, november, I want to say until May 1st. I don't know why I remember the end date but not the start date.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, they just need someone to keep up with the machinery, make sure the generator's working and that you know the place doesn't overheat or under heat and doesn't freeze all that stuff, and just like keep an eye on it while they're closed for the winter. And you know, jack asked like hey, like well, why don't you just like leave it open for skiing and stuff? You know seems like the perfect place. And he's like, yeah, well, that's true, but it's just not worth the cost of keeping the, the road open because basically, if they're, if they opened as like a ski resort, they'd be the ones paying to have the roads stay clear. And it's this like 25 mile stretch of road and that gets an average of 20 feet of snow per per winter. So it's just not not feasible financially, which could totally make sense. It's just a lot cheaper to have one guy or one family come and stay.

Speaker 1:

So he goes over a little bit like what his duties are going to be like and and says that the the main thing that they're worried about is the isolation. I think that's why they like want a family versus just one person and then he's, like, hesitantly, mentioned like well, we should note that there was an incident in 1970 where the caretaker basically went crazy and killed his family with an axe and and Jack's face, like during this, is just very, very serious. It's. There's a lot of I don't mention a couple of them, but there's a lot of like interesting facial expressions that are kind of no expression and you're getting no like reaction where it seems like there should be a reaction and this is one of those instances. He's just very like you know, and just taking it all in. It says like, yeah, 1970, a guy named Charles Grady was the caretaker went, went crazy, killed his family two twin daughters and his wife with an axe, stacked him in one of the rooms in the West Wing and then put a shotgun in his mouth and killed himself. So basically he's just giving them this information like hey, like I don't want you to find it out about this the wrong way, and full disclosure, this is what you could be getting into. So I just want to let you know. But, like you know, the experts say it was just a classic case of cabin fever and all this stuff. And then, yeah, and then they think that at that point the scene cuts away to Danny in the bathroom.

Speaker 1:

He's like standing on like a little you know step stool that you'd have for like a little kid, because he's, you know, brushing his teeth in the mirror, but he's having a conversation with Tony in the mirror and so he goes back and forth with his like regular speaking voice and then he does that like little gruff, like Tony voice as well, and he's like Tony, do you think dad got the job? And Tony's like he did, and then that he's going to call Wendy here in a little bit. And then we hear the phone ring. Wendy picks up the phone and we just hear, oh, never mind, we do see both sides of the conversation. But find out that he got the job but he has to stay there and do more paperwork and he'll be home like late, like after dinner and stuff like that.

Speaker 1:

Danny is asking Tony like why don't you want to go to the hotel? And he's like I can't tell you. And he's like come on please, you know, and just kind of like begs Tony, and Tony finally does show him. And then we see Danny kind of freeze up a little bit and like his eyes get all big and then we're seeing like what Tony's showing him and Tony's showing him like visions of the hotel. We're seeing the famous, the blood coming out of the elevator doors and flash of the twins that will come into play later, both like probably two of the most famous, like iconic images of the film that anyone would recognize, even if you don't or haven't seen the film.

Speaker 1:

We then cut to a doctor is there in Danny's bedroom, with Danny just kind of asking him questions like hey, like like what's the last thing you remember, like before waking up, or you know stuff like that. And he's like I remember my mom saying wake up, danny, wake up. And like what were you doing before that? I was brushing my teeth. What about before that? Like I was talking to Tony and she asked him some questions about Tony. Like well, who's Tony? Is he your imaginary friend? Is he one of your stuffed animals? He says Tony is the little boy who lives in my mouth. And then she's like, okay, like if I, if you, were to open your mouth, could I see Tony? And no, because he goes and hides. And where does he hide? He hides in my stomach.

Speaker 1:

She's just she's being very like kind and gentle with them and everything, not like trying to make them feel like weird or anything like that. Like it's, like, are you crazy? You know, which is refreshing, especially for movies of this time, I feel like the trend would be to be like, oh you're crazy, the kids are crazy, you know stuff like that, just like very like clinical and logical, but accepting and kind and nurturing, I guess. So she basically just tells them like okay, like I need you to do me a favor and just rest for the day and stay in bed. And so then she goes out into the living room with Wendy I don't think I noted this before, but Wendy played by Shelly Duvall, like an amazing performance from her. But so they go out into the living room and talk. So they go out into the living room and talk.

Speaker 1:

The doctor tells Wendy like hey, like it's nothing to worry about, like these things happen with kids all the time, and a lot of times there's no explanation and it never happens again. But also, just on the safe side, if it does happen again, then let us know, you know. So just very reassuring and everything like it's okay. It's not necessarily like a seizure, it's just kind of like a almost like a self hypnosis type thing or I forget what the actual terms used. But then she starts to ask Wendy some questions like, oh, like, when did Tony like? Or how long have you lived in Boulder? And like, oh, you know, just about a year or so.

Speaker 1:

And it's like, is that when Tony started to come around? Like no, that was probably about when Danny started grade school or nursery school, I think is what she said. And like, oh, like, did he adjust well to that? No, not really, but I think that's when I first started noticing Tony, that, or around his injury. And like, oh, what sort of injury. Oh, he dislocated his shoulder. Oh, how did he manage to do that? And then Wendy's like well, you see, jack, tony or Danny's father, came home late, like three hours late one night and he had been drinking and so he wasn't in really good mood, and Danny had scattered some of Jack's papers around and Jack got upset and tried to pull him or grabbed Danny's arm to pull him away, but, you know, grabbed him a little too hard and it ended up dislocating his shoulder.

Speaker 1:

And it's really interesting how, like you can see, you can see in here Wendy like trying to make it seem like it's not that big of a deal. But you know you could tell that she knows that it is, but trying to play it off. But this is another one of those instances of the like a facial expression, like showing no emotion one way or the other and I'm talking about the doctor in this case is just like you know, they show her face and she's just like no expression one way or the other, like oh my God, that's abuse or yeah, that's fine, or you know nothing. There's just we're getting no information from the doctor whatsoever and I think that's definitely on purpose and because you know that's all we need to know is like Wendy's thoughts on it, you know, because the doctor doesn't, isn't going to be around for the rest of the movie and it's just a. It's a very smart way to show something that happens unfortunately far too often is that there's these people in these semi abusive relationships that it's not outright red flag central, you know, but there's enough of them there to like be a little, like okay, like hey, that's, that's probably not good and either get that checked out or get out, you know. But yeah, I think they just Shelly Duvall just does such a good job of like portraying that without outright saying anything. But she ends the story with saying that like well, like ever since then, like Jack promised, like you know, he vowed to never touch a drop of alcohol again and he's been sober ever since. You know, I think five months ago, that this happened. He'll say later, just ends with finding out that Jack's been sober the whole time and then move on, get another card that says closing day, and so we cut to the family.

Speaker 1:

They're driving up that same road and we see all three of them in the car together Actually one of the very few scenes of all three of them together. I mean they're technically together throughout the whole movie, but like there's not a lot of like actual single shots of all three main characters together. And they're driving up in their little I think it's a little yellow bug, I'm pretty sure VW. They talk a little bit about just like how the air is so different up there and then just how beautiful it is. And then Wendy asked like hey, isn't it around here that the Donner party got stuck? And Jack says no, I think that was over, that was further west in the Sierras. And Danny asked like hey, what's the Donner party? And Jack says like oh, it's a group of settlers that got stuck in the snow and ended up resorting to cannibalism. And Danny's like you mean they ate each other up. And then, like Wendy's like a little hesitant to continue this story. And then Danny's like don't worry, mom, I know all about cannibalism, I've learned it on TV. And then Jack like kind of he smarks, he's like you hear that? That's fine, he learned about it on the television. And it's just one of like a few times that Jack shows his sinister side, without being like outright scary, you know, but it's just like a little hint here and there.

Speaker 1:

We then cut to Jack waiting in the lobby reading a Playgirl magazine for some reason never, never outright acknowledged or anything like that. It's just one of those like subtle details that it's just it's. It doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it just makes you go huh, weird. But yeah, puts the magazine down. When Mr Oman comes and then they get up and get started on the tour, we see that their luggage is behind him in the lobby and it's a massive pile of luggage that seems like it's would not fit like on or inside this car that they came up in. But there it is. But they get started with this tour of the hotel. We cut to Danny playing darts in the like one of the break rooms or a game room, something like that. And as he's playing darts, he he goes to get the darts out of the dartboard after he throws three, pulls them out and turns around. And then there's the twins that we saw in his vision that Tony showed them, and they're just like standing in there looking at him and then they look at, look to each other, turn around and then leave the game room. You know, that's it for now.

Speaker 1:

Cut back to the tour. We see them showing where they're going to be staying, saying like, oh, this, this little apartment, it's got a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and then a smaller bedroom for your son. And they're like oh, this is going to be perfect. And he's like and we're you know, worst case scenario, if you want to spread out, you can have the whole, tell your whole hotel yourself. So, like, just do whatever you want, you know. We then see the large hedge maze out out the side of the hotel, like huge, like 12 foot hedges and stuff like that. And he's like yeah, like it's great, just make sure you have plenty of time because you can get stuck out here for hours.

Speaker 1:

You know, before you find your way out, we get the casual off handed line about the hotel being built on an you know quote ancient Indian burial ground, major trope for any ghost movie that you know. You got poltergeist, this pet cemetery. You know a bunch of different movies that definitely overused, but it's definitely one of those. Like, oh, by the way, the place is haunted, without saying outright that it's haunted. And then they show them the snow cat, which is like the, basically a tractor that can drive through the snow. And, you know, in case of emergencies, if they had to get down the mountain or whatever, then they're not completely stranded.

Speaker 1:

You know, show them the gold ballroom and they make a reference to like hey, like you're. Oh, wendy says like we could throw a big party here, and then he's like Well, like Mr Oman says like only if you brought your own supply. Like we have to take all the liquor out for insurance purposes. And then Jack says Well, we don't drink. And he's like Well, then that works out perfectly. But, yeah, big ballroom, it's got a bar in it which is empty at this point. You know bathrooms and everything, and it's here in the ballroom that we get introduced to probably the besides the main three torrents as the next biggest character in the film and that's Dick Halloran. He's the I forget his job title actually, but he's there to show Wendy around, like where the kitchen is and everything, and basically he's like the guy who is in charge of, like, the staff and the caretakers and stuff like that. But he's played by a Scatman, carothers.

Speaker 1:

And something interesting is I have recently read through well, I've listened to the audiobook. I've been trying to read Stephen King's it for probably close to 20 years at this point and I just like I'm not much of a reader, honestly. That's why I love movies so much, but I'm very visual person and and I just get I probably have some undiagnosed ADHD or something like that, because I just always get distracted while reading. But finally just broke down and got the audiobook and listened all the way through it and it was cool because I know and I already knew this before that Stephen King connects a lot of his books like very loosely, and there was mention of Dick Halloran in there in a flashback from Mike's grandpa or dad, I forget, but either way, dick Halloran made a cameo in it and I thought that was pretty cool, but anyways, played by Scatman Carothers. He's there and he's gets introduced to the family. It goes to show.

Speaker 1:

Wendy and Danny break off from the tour and they're going to get their own separate tour with with Dick, and he shows them the kitchen, the pantry, the freezer, and during their like little tour at some point, well, a couple times, dick calls a flight. Hey, like, talks to Danny and calls him Doc, which is what Jack and Wendy call him. And but and she makes note of this like hey, like, I noticed you calling him Doc, like how'd you know we call him doc. And he's like, oh, I must have heard you say it, he's like. He's like, yeah, it's possible, but I don't remember calling him Doc. And but you know he just plays it off. But then when he's showing them the pantry and he is like listing all these things that are there in stock for them, he turns to Danny and we're getting this like ominous oh my God, I hate that stupid thumbs up thing. We're getting this like ominous tone and everything. And he turns to Danny and even though he's talking out loud to Wendy, we hear his voice directly to Danny like how'd you like some ice cream, doc. And so he like speaks telekinetically or telepathically, I don't remember, I don't, I forget the difference directly to Danny. And so at a certain point he's done showing Wendy around. Oh yeah, they meet back up with Mr Olman and that group and they're like hey, like we need to show Wendy some stuff, you mind if we steal her from you? And then Dick's like oh yeah, that's fine. Like hey, you guys mind if I get some ice cream for Danny here? And then Jack and Winder like no, that's fine, like go ahead.

Speaker 1:

We then get this scene between Dick and Danny where they're eating ice cream in the kitchen. And this is where Dick says to Danny like hey, like you know, how'd you know? Or you know how do you think? I knew that they called you Doc and how you know that I talked to you like that and all that stuff. And then he basically says, like me and my grandma used to have entire conversations without ever opening our mouths and she called it shining. So it's like this gift that some people have and some people don't. Basically, you know, and he's like I always thought that it was just the two of us that can do it. And then I got older and found out that there, you know, there's other people out there that have this gift and I have it and I think you have it.

Speaker 1:

And then I forget how they get on the subject, but they do, they start talking about Tony and I forget if it's a certain question that Dick asks or just something that Danny says. But they get on this, you know, subject of Tony. And he's like does Tony ever told you anything about the Overlook Hotel? And he's like, yeah, but I'm not supposed to say. And he's like why not? And he's like I don't know. And it's like does your mom and dad know about Tony? And he's like, yeah, they do, but and have you ever told them about what Tony has showed you or told you? And then he says no, like Tony said to never tell them.

Speaker 1:

And so then he asks like you know, what do you think about? The? Like, oh, he asked about the Overlook Hotel, danny does. And he's like is this place bad? Like? And Dick's like, well, you know he doesn't beat around the bush, he'll accept a little bit. And he says, like you know, I think there's things that happen that leave traces, kind of like burnt toast, like the smell of burnt toast, you know, and just like there's some people that shine and some that don't. Some places can do something like that, and I think that the Overlook does something that's a little similar to shining, but like whatever, like the you know place version of doing it rather than person, and he asks like if he likes it there. And then they just keep talking about the hotel.

Speaker 1:

But then Danny asks like what about room 237? And he's like what about room 237? And he's like are you, are you afraid of room 237? And then Dick's whole demeanor changes at this point and he just gets like real serious. He's like no, like I'm not, there's nothing that I'm not, there's nothing to be afraid of there. And he's like, and he asks like did Tony ever tell you or show you what's in room 237? And even asked like no, like, but what is in there? And he's like nothing, and there's nothing to worry about, but don't ever go in there. And but so he gets like real serious about it, but doesn't exactly say like what the deal is with that room.

Speaker 1:

So then we get the next info card, say in a month later, and we see Wendy pushing a breakfast cart through the hotel and then we see Danny riding his big wheel around and we get this like it's. It's so cool how they did it with the, the sound design and we get the, because they had, like, the microphone right there and it was the change in tones of the wheels on the carpet versus the wheels on the hard floor and it just keeps like switching as he's like going around in a circle. And this is awesome tracking shot, like directly behind with the Steadycam and everything. The actual, like inventor of the Steadycam I forgot his name, but he worked on this movie and I don't think I don't remember if he invented it for this. But either way it's, you know, if you need a Steadycam shot, you get the guy that invented it and that's why it looks so awesome.

Speaker 1:

And we see Wendy bring the cart into the room where Jack is asleep and she wakes him up and she's like oh, good morning, hun. Breakfast is ready. And he's like oh, what time is it? It's like it's 1130 something. And like oh, like, I guess I've been staying up too late or you know stuff like that and you know everything's pretty normal at this point. Nothing, nothing weird yet, but Jack does mention because they're talking about like oh, do you love it here and stuff like that. And Wendy's like saying like, yeah, like she likes it a lot. And Jack's like, man, I love it, like I fell in love the first time I saw it when I interviewed here and he's like, and he says that it's. It was almost as if he's been here before and he's like it's not quite like deja vu, but it was almost as if I knew what was gonna be.

Speaker 1:

Around every single corner we get a shot of Jack throwing a tennis ball against the like one of like the big murals inside the lobby and he's just like throwing it against the wall and he catch it and he throw it. And you know we're hearing the big like echoing sounds, like speaking big echoing sound, and you hear my stomach there and he's just throwing it and there's a little disrespectful of the artwork in there I'd say, but you know whatever. Then we see Wendy and Danny heading out to the maze. They're all like bundled up and everything. It hasn't started snowing yet or anything, but they go out in the maze and we see Jack you decide, I guess you decide he's done throwing the tennis ball around and goes and looks at the model of the maze which is like on this big table, and one of the coolest shots is the. It's a slow zoom down from above the maze, but it's like of the model, but it turns into but you see the. You know the little movement of Wendy and Danny in the middle of the maze and it's a real cool like transitional shot from the model to the actual maze, which apparently they did like do a crane shot of the maze and then superimposed a shot that they did like between some apartment buildings or something like that, like of the. They just built the center and filmed them from above. So it looks amazing.

Speaker 1:

And then we get my favorite transition to a one of the title info cards where it's just an all caps Tuesday and like even the music's like it's just like so, like crazy, cause it's like, oh my God, the scariest thing imaginable a Tuesday. So then it's like you know, obviously we have like here's what the scene is. And then it's like a month later and now we're getting like a little more like zeroing in on, like what's going to happen, cause now it's like day by day and then, as we'll see later, it's going to be like, you know, hour by hour type deal. But yeah, tuesday we see Danny on the big wheel again. This time he's in one of the upper floors, the one that has like a balcony, like over the lobby, basically cause we see like the big opening. But this time he's like actually like on like the carpet, the iconic orange carpet from. You know the logo of the podcast, but you know that everyone shouldn't recognize if they've seen the movie. But this time, while he's driving around, he slows down and looks up at a door and gets up and we realize that oh, it's room 237. And he like kind of goes up to it and touches the door knob. But I forget, yeah, I don't think he sees anything at this point, and if he does then we don't see it. But you know he touches it and then kind of backs away and gets down on his big wheel and I like that he like kind of pushes the back wheel to like kind of get it started a little bit and then, you know, drives off.

Speaker 1:

You see Jack typing in the like in one of like the big common rooms and he's just typing away and Wendy comes and talks to him and he starts like this is where he starts to like get annoyed with her and she cause she's like hey, like you know, I heard on the radio it's going to start snowing and you know we're going to get like a big snowstorm. And he's like and what do you want me to do about it? And he's just like what? Like nothing. I was just like telling you. And then he, like this is where he like be rates. Or he's like, every time you come in here while I'm typing, it breaks my concentration. And then I got to start over and he like picks up his papers and like kind of crumples them and throws them and just like yells at her. And it's like, you know, if you hear me typing better, yet if you don't hear anything, if I'm in this room, you leave me the fuck alone. That means I'm busy. And he said, and you know, and she just kind of like, oh okay, like very timidly, like okay. And he's like now, why don't you get started and get the fuck out of here? And then I was like oh, okay, you know, now we're starting to see a little bit of a change in them.

Speaker 1:

And then we get the Thursday, you know, another big like scary music, sting and everything. And this is where we see Wendy and Danny out playing out in the snow. But then we cut to Jack and this is like one of those iconic, the Kubrick stare. And I don't think I I don't know if I talked about it in the other Kubrick episodes Eyes Wide Shut, and cause I'm trying to think of what the Kubrick stare from Eyes Wide Shut is. Anyways, it doesn't matter. But like you know, or like Alex Delarge in Clockwork Orange, just like staring straight into the camera and everything. But we get Jack Nicholson or Jack Torrance staring out the window at them and just like, like that and just like super creepy, like it's so perfect and I love everything about it, cause they're kind of like slow zooming away from him, or is it in, I don't remember, but I love how I'm like it's so iconic. And now I can't remember which direction the zoom is going, if it's towards or away, but anyways, I could picture it.

Speaker 1:

And he's got this like green turtleneck and everything and just like no blink, just staring out the window and it's like, and this is like kind of like hey, by the way, you know, he's mentally not too stable right now and then we get the Saturday card and Wendy goes to make a phone call and realizes that the phones are down. So she, you know, or suspects that the phones may be down because the phone calls not going through gets on the radio radios for a park ranger or anybody and you know, gets the ranger station and is like, hey, like we're at the Overlook Hotel. And he's like, oh, like you know, they know what's going on. So like hey, like, how are you doing over there? Like, oh, we're fine, just notice that the phones were down. I wonder if that was like normal. And he's like, yeah, like, though, they go down pretty much every winter and they're probably gonna stay that way until May. So it's best that you keep your radio on, just in case you know, and turn it up loud so that way you could hear wherever you are in the hotel.

Speaker 1:

Get another scene of Danny riding his big wheel through the halls, but this time when he turns a corner, he sees the twins like down at the end of the hall, and so he like immediately stops and is like kind of frozen in fear, like, oh God, like what's going on? And they're just standing there. But this time they talk to him and they're like in unison, like hello, danny. And then they're like they start saying like come play with us, danny, come play with us forever and ever and ever. And then, as they're saying this, like repeating forever and ever and ever, then we get flashes of their dead bodies, like you know, cause these are the twins that got murdered by their dad with an ax, and we see the ax and the bodies and the hallway covered in blood, and it's just like flash back and forth between those two things. And then he, you know, finally covers his eyes and then, like, looks through his fingers and then they're gone, you know.

Speaker 1:

And then he starts talking to Tony and he's like Tony, like I'm scared, and then he's like, remember what Mr Haller had said they're just like pictures in a book, it's not real. So and this is an interesting bit of information that really makes you ponder the reality of anything that happens and it's like the way I see it is that the things are there, but they can only affect you if you let them. You know what I mean. Like it is haunted, there are, there is spiritual activity there, but it's only, it can only affect you if you let it. That type of thing, you know, or maybe Tony is just like setting them up for failure, cause we don't know, like, is Tony good for Danny or bad for Danny? You know, we don't know. Is he looking out for Tony or is he work for the hotel? I don't know, but either way, he says like it's just like pictures in a book. They're not real, you know.

Speaker 1:

But then we get the Monday card and Danny and Wendy are in one of the common areas, they're watching TV. They got the, you know, the super awesome old CRT and like the wood frame with like the feet and everything. But one thing that's interesting that I've seen pointed out a bunch of times and something that people overthink all the time, is that the TV has no cord, which is super interesting. But I've also I've heard it that it, you know, people overthink it and think that it has like some like significance or symbolism or something like that. And I think it really came down to Stanley Kubrick saying like well, cause it looks dumb with the cord, like, so we like taped it to the leg and then it just looks better without a cord. There, you know, and he's right, you know, but it's just so funny, like all those little things like that that people like blow out and blow out of proportion and it's just like, well, it just looked better that way. You know, sometimes it's just that simple.

Speaker 1:

But Danny says to Wendy like hey, like, can I go get my fire engine out of my room? And she's like no, like can you wait, cause your dad's asleep? He like just went to sleep and it's the morning, so he's been up like all night apparently. And he's like I promise I'll be really quiet. And she's like, okay, like, just be real quiet, like, but don't wake him up cause he'll get upset, you know. And so he sneaks up to the room and he gets in there and Jack is awake and also Danny's wearing this like awesome, like Mickey Mouse sweater. That's just like super cool, like Danny Torrance is a fashion icon in this, with the bull cut, the sweaters and then the big collar on the shirt and everything. And yeah, I want like most of his wardrobe, but I love his Mickey sweater here.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, like I said, jack's awake and he's just like sitting there like kind of, you know, staring off into space again, but and just like sitting on the bed, and it's like, okay, like that's a little weird. But you know, he acknowledges Danny when he comes in and he's like, hey, like, why don't you come here for a minute? And you know, sits Danny on his lap and it's like hey, like how do you like it here? And he's, and Danny's like fine, but you can tell he's like a little apprehensive and he's like and he asks, he's like dad, like are you? Oh yeah, dad, do you feel bad? And he's like no, I'm just tired. And he's like well, why don't you go to sleep? And he's like I can't, I just have too much to do.

Speaker 1:

He asks his dad do you like this hotel? And he's like yeah, I love it. Like I just want to stay here. I wish we could stay here forever and ever and ever. And the way he says it like is verbatim the way that the Grady twins are like come play with us forever and ever. Like the same cadence, everything. And Danny definitely clocks this, but he doesn't make it obvious or anything like that, but because he really is just like kind of trying to gauge with his dad, like okay, like did the hotel get to you? You know what's going on? Like do I need to be afraid of you? You know, because he could see that there's some kind of change going on and probably Tony is also letting him know. Like hey, like don't forget it. But then he flat out asks him like you wouldn't hurt me and mommy, would you? And Jack's tone changes. He's like where would you get a thing like that? Like, did your mom ask you that? Like, did your mom say I would hurt you? And Danny's like no, no, she didn't say that, just making sure you know that type of thing. You know he plays it off, but this like plants a seed in Jack, apparently.

Speaker 1:

Then we get the Wednesday card and Danny's playing on the floor in one of like the hexagonal carpet hallways or whatever, and the ball like rolls up to him. The tennis ball that his dad was throwing earlier like rolls up to him while he's playing with his cars and it like rolls like right down the center of like the brown stripe in the carpet pattern. But what's interesting is when Danny stands up, the carpet's flipped and there is no stripe leading up to him, it's leading away from him and so it's one of those like interesting inconsistencies that you know is debated. Wasn't on purpose, wasn't on, you know. But yeah, the ball like rolls to him and he stands up and looks around and he's like hello, mom, you know, see if it was like his mom rolled it to him, if his dad rolled it to him. He's wearing another iconic sweater. He's got his Apollo 11 sweater and this is what everyone. I guess this is the key bit of evidence. The fact that he's wearing an Apollo 11 sweater means that Stanley Kubrick directed the moon landing Great day detective work, I guess.

Speaker 1:

But he follows, like where the ball came from and notices that room 237 is open and it's got the key in it and everything in the door is open. And so he goes over there, you know a little slow, and you know goes inside and then it cuts to Wendy. She's in the generator room and she's got like her like a clipboard and notebook and just basically doing like the checklist to make sure that the generators are fine and everything like that. But she hears Jack kind of screaming, but like kind of like a weird scream, and we see that he's asleep at his desk where the typewriter is and it's like having a nightmare but like talking in the sleep, like screaming in the sleep, like oh, oh, oh, oh, you know. And then it's just like progressively getting like more frantic and she goes and like finally like wakes him up and he kind of like falls out of his chair and he's got like this big old drool like coming down and he's like, oh my God, it was horrible. I had the most horrible nightmare. He was like I dreamt that I killed you and Danny, and I dreamt that I didn't just kill you, though. I chopped you up into little bits and it's like all right, like that's you know.

Speaker 1:

So she's a little like put off by this. But as they're talking and she's like comforting him and trying to like get him back up to his feet and back into his chair, danny comes in and he's like you could tell he's like kind of in like a little bit of a trance, cause he's walking very slowly. He's got his thumb in his mouth, which is like the first time we see him do anything like this. So he's like sucking his thumb and but then we see that like something's off with his clothes and his like shoulder the shoulder of his sweater is like ripped. When he's trying to tell him like hey, like it's okay, your dad's fine, like just go play in your room for a little bit and I'll come see you. But he's just, like you know, not responding and just keeps walking in slowly.

Speaker 1:

So she goes and like Danny, like I'm talking to you, like you need to listen like go to your room. And she goes, walks up to him and realizes, like that you know, shirts ripped and everything it looks at him, he's all disheveled and there's bruises on his neck and a little bit on his face too, and it's just like, like, like Danny, what happened? What happened? And it's just like trying to talk to him. And then she turns and looks at Jack and, just like you did this to him, didn't you Like? And just like freaks out and picks him up and like you're a monster, you know all this stuff. And then, like, picks up Danny and like, walks back up to the room, you know, and Jack's just like, but another one of those like blank expressions that just like not saying, like, like it's not outright, like what are you talking about? You're crazy, I didn't touch him, I'm not gonna touch him, you know. Like, but also not, and it's not anger and it's not like confusion, it's just like. You know, it's so weird.

Speaker 1:

But then we see Jack, like walking through the halls, like near the ballroom, and he's, and now he's starting to act like a little crazy because he's like, kind of just like punching the air and like grabbing at the air. And then it's like almost like he's like grabbing at like someone's neck or like to like bear hug him or like strangle him and stuff like that. And he's just like, you know, just doing stuff like that, just like acting like erratic. He gets to the gold ballroom and goes inside and he's just like kind of like looking around and everything, and he goes and sits at the bar and he's like I'd give anything for a drink right now and he even says like quote, like I'd sell my goddamn soul for a beer, for just a beer, just a sip of beer, or something like that. We get this like head-on shot of him, like looking like directly into the camera, because he kind of like goes like that.

Speaker 1:

And then, and just you know, right down the barrel and then he just starts like talking to a bartender and he's like hi, eloid, like best bartender you know in the in the world, like from Timbuktu to Portland Maine or Portland Oregon, for that matter, you know. And but then camera turns and there is somebody there, there is a bartender, and now all of a sudden there's liquor in the bar and everything like that, and so he's talking to this Lloyd bartender and you know all this stuff has appeared and everything like that, you know. So now we're getting our first like well, he's getting his first visual evidence of there being a ghost, I guess. Or is it all in his head, we don't know. So he pours him a, oh, he orders a bourbon on the rocks and pours him some Jack Daniels, which I don't think is a bourbon. If I remember right, I feel like it's just a whiskey, but I mean, at least that's how it's labeled. But I know Jim Beam is a bourbon, but I don't think Jack Daniels is. But it doesn't matter, that's just alcoholic talk. But yeah, orders a bourbon on the rocks, starts drinking it and he does a cheers here's the five miserable months on the wagon, you know, and all this stuff. So basically, cheers to his broken sobriety and he starts talking about Danny's injury, basically like, starts venting. That like, oh my gosh, I can't believe she would blame me for this. I only dislocated her shoulder one time. Could have happened to anybody that type of thing.

Speaker 1:

Then Wendy comes in all frantic. And now when Wendy comes in, there's nobody there at the bar, there's no glass, there's no liquor or anything like that. But she comes in and she's like Jack, there's someone else in the hotel, there's a crazy woman and like Danny went to this room and this crazy woman in the bathtub tried to strangle Danny and he's like what are you out of your fucking mind? And it's so funny, just like from going to talking to a ghost bartender, to turn around and just tell your wife that says like there's someone else at the hotel, that she's fucking crazy for believing that, even though the alternative is you strangled your son, whatever. I guess that he could have done it to himself, but yeah, I love his delivery on that. It's just so funny. She's in one of the rooms and he's like says what room we now cut to Dick Halloran at his home in Florida, I think Miami.

Speaker 1:

I mean he's watching Miami news, but he could just be in one of the neighboring areas, but he's in Florida. He's got like one of the like I don't know. I'm realizing now, like after rewatching it, that I think my whole decorating style has been like loosely, like subconsciously based on Dick Halloran's bachelor pad in Miami, because he's got like all this like mid-century modern furniture and stuff like that and it's just like super vintage and retro and awesome. One thing I don't have is giant nude portraits of models with giant afros like he does, and that's. He's got one behind the bed and one behind the TV. But yeah, I love like the look of his place and everything. But we see him he's in bed watching TV and then we get that like ominous, like tone again.

Speaker 1:

The starts going and then we're like slow zoom. There's a slow zoom in and a slow zoom out, but it's like going in on his face and he's like you know you could tell like something is happening, like in his mind and everything. And then we're cutting between Dick Halloran's face, like you know, shining with Danny who's like, he's like forming at the mouth and like almost like having like a seizure type deal. But and then the third shot that we're going through is Jack going into and it's a POV or his point of view going into the room 237. And we're seeing yet another very aesthetically pleasing iconic carpet, and this one this time it's like green and purple and it's like super. I don't know, I would love that either of these carpets in my house someday. I would love to model my bathroom after this bathroom in room 237. It's so cool, but as beyond the point goes into the room no one in the room and he goes into the bathroom which you know Wendy said it's a woman in the in the bathroom tried to strangle Danny.

Speaker 1:

Jack walks into the bathroom and a hand comes and opens the shower curtain and there is a nude woman in the bathtub. And then, you know, jack gets this like devious smirk on his face because there's a naked woman that's not his wife in there and she slowly stands up Everything's happening in slow motion from their end and she stands up, slowly, gets out of the tub and they kind of like walk towards each other and meet in the center of the bathroom and then they like embrace each other and start kissing. And then we get like a close up of Jack, you know, in this embrace with this woman, and then he kind of opens his eyes and looks into the mirror and then kind of like, oh, my god. And then we get, you know, pulled back and then he's like, oh, my god, he's like oh, my god. And then he's like, oh, pull back. And we see that the woman has changed into this like much older, kind of decayed body. And then she starts like this, like evil laugh and, like you know, and just starts like laughing at him and Jack's horrified and he's like backing out of the bathroom. And then we're like flashing from her, like walking towards him, like and you see all like the rot and everything like that, and we see that it's flashing between that and her body, like in the so presumably she's a woman that died in the bathtub and then just like slowly rotted until someone found her. Basically, so Jack backs all the way out of the room, you know, closes it and locks it and then just backs away from the door and he's, like you know, visibly shook.

Speaker 1:

At this point we cut back to Dick and he's making a phone call to the hotel or trying to get trying to make a phone call to the hotel and obviously the lines are down so it doesn't go through. And then cut to Jack, getting to the apartment set up that they have at the hotel and goes in and talks to Wendy and says like hey, like I went there and there's no one there, like, so you know, just completely lies and like I don't know what you're talking about, like, and then Wendy's like Well, you know something you know is happening and like I don't know what's going on and I think we just need to get Danny out of here. And then, like Jack's demeanor changes again. He's like good amount of hair, like you mean like leave the hotel and you could tell like the wheels are turned and like that can't happen. So and then he starts berating her again and we're also cutting to.

Speaker 1:

We see Danny is like in his room and is like his eyes are all big and his mouth's like open, but he's like in the trance again and we can hear the audio of them talking about him like, but it's all like distorted when he's hearing it and he's like it's like do you ever think like about my responsibilities as caretaker here? And like like leaving would put me in jeopardy and like all this stuff and just like yelling at her, like calling her selfish and stuff like that. But what's crazy is, like you know, when he's like finally done yelling at her and he gets up to like storm out of the room, he looks directly into the camera and it's like a kind of a tracking shot of him like going across the room like the camera's like in the corner and it's just like following him. And as he like walks past the camera, he like looks like out of the corner of his eye, like directly into the camera and it's like one of those if you're not looking for it, you know blink and you miss it type deals. But yeah, real interesting shot.

Speaker 1:

So he's like walking through the hotel getting all like worked up again and he over and he could hear some like big band music like playing like off in the distance. So he's like kind of like, hmm, like what's that all about? And he looks down the hall, like towards, like where the ballroom is, and there's all these like party decorations, like balloons and streamers and confetti and stuff, and it's like, okay, that's, that's that's interesting. But then cut to Dick. He gets a hold of the Rangers at the Ranger station and he's like hey, like this is Dick Halloran from the overlook. I just was trying to check in on the family that's staying there, but the phone lines are down. Could you like check on them for me? And they're like oh, yeah, we'll try them on the radio. And he's like Okay, like I'll call back in a few minutes.

Speaker 1:

Cut back to Jack going into the gold ballroom and this time it is full of people and they're all dressed like it's the 1920s and this is where the big band music was coming from, and I forget it might be. It's either like Benny Goodman, like Glenn Miller I don't know if it's one of their two songs, but it's like that type of vibe For sure. He heads to the bar, gets another bourbon and, you know, goes to pay and the Lloyd's like no, like your money's no good here, like orders of the house, and he's like, oh, okay, you know. And so he gets up to go to the bathroom and he's kind of like dancing and being silly. And waiter comes and but he has like a, you know, a tray full of drinks, goes to get out of the way of some ladies that are coming and runs into Jack and spills all over him and he's like oh, so sorry, sir. And he's like oh, no, worries. Like, he's like well, like it's, it's avocado, so, and it tends to stain, so let's go to the bathroom and all you know, make sure it doesn't stain on you. And he's like, oh, okay.

Speaker 1:

But one funny thing that you know it took me a few watches to notice is that he's like, oh, looks like you got some on on yourself there too. And then he like wipes his hand on the back of the waiter. And so they head into the bathroom and he's asked any assom like, hey, like, so what's your name? And he says, oh, my name's a Dobert Grady. And then Jack's like Hmm, that sounds familiar, you know, and it should sound familiar because it's this is the caretaker that went crazy and killed his family. But another interesting inconsistency is that when we hear the story, first, in the beginning, they use the name Charles Grady and also the fact that that incident, according to Mr Ollman, took place in 1970. But everyone here is dressed like it's the 1920s and has like the accents and acts like it's the 1920s. So just very interesting. But I mean a little more on that and I'll have like a theory on that later.

Speaker 1:

So he talks to him. He's like, hey, like, are you Delbert Grady? You got, you got family or what. And he's kind of trying to, you know, scope it out without coming right out with what he thinks. And he's like oh, yeah, I got two daughters and stuff like that. And he's like you're the, you were the care, like I read about you, you were the caretaker here and you killed your family. And he's like no, you're the caretaker here, you've always been the caretaker. And I should know because I've always been here and and then so it kind of gets some more. And now his demeanors changed too and he's just like super straightforward and he's like it's like did you know that your son is attempting to bring a outside party into the situation? And you know he's basically he's telling him that you know his son's bringing DeKaloran up there.

Speaker 1:

I mean, he says he's just bringing an N word and which I mean I know, I know for a fact that that is something that was came from Stephen King, I'm sure, and not from Stanley Kubrick, but I don't know. And Stephen King puts that word in his books a lot and yes, they were written at a different time. And I think in his mind he's doing it as like oh, to show that these are bad people that are using that word. But I think, when you which I think is a you know, logically better than the way Tarantino uses it and pulp fiction, but I, you know, if you look at me on the on the YouTube, I'm not the authority on what's incorrect or correct use of that word, but you know, in my opinion, I think, I think that even though Stephen King thinks that he's using it for a specific purpose to show that someone is a bad person. I think it's still come.

Speaker 1:

It comes off very weird, especially than some of the books. It's like okay, like, come on, man, like you really need to use it that many times, like, maybe like one time, but maybe even not then. But I don't know, it's, it's, it's a whole thing, but it's just, it's very uncomfortable a lot of the times, like the way it's used or the frequency that it's used. But you know, it's very I'm sure in the movie it's used a lot less than it is in the actual book. But I, that being said, I haven't read the Shining yet. That's. I plan on getting to that one next.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, so so Grady warns him that he's trying to bring a howler in there and he's like, oh, like your son's a very naughty boy. Like you know, my daughters, like, were like that once too. So I corrected them. And then, when my wife didn't like that and tried to get in the way, I corrected her as well. And so then, basically, like you know what you got to do, you got to kill your family.

Speaker 1:

So we cut to Wendy back in the room. She's like contemplating out loud, like it's okay, like I'll just get, I'll get Danny, we'll get the snow cat and we'll head down the mountain, and if Jack doesn't want to go, then we'll just have to tell him like then we're just going to go, without you, you know, and you know she's very like on the verge of hysterics and she's crying and like her voice is all shaky. She's got, you know, she's smoking, she's got just got a lot on her mind, obviously. And as she's like pacing back and forth, you know, trying to figure this out with herself, then we hear from the other room Danny is starting to like repeat, is like red rum, red rum, red rum, you know. And so she's like, oh my God, like what's going on? She goes in there and then, but he's just like in this trance and he like won't stop saying it and he just keeps going and going and she's trying to like snap him out of it, and then he finally stops and then he just kind of like looks at her and he says Danny's not here, mrs Torrance, and so you know she's obviously a little freaked out about that.

Speaker 1:

We see Jack head to Oman's office and then we can hear the Rangers are trying to get a hold of them on the radio and he just unscrews the back and pops the top off the radio and pulls out some fuses I think that's what they are. Just, you know three things that just snapped in there so pulls those out and kind of rattles them like dice and puts them in his pocket and leaves you know, so sabotage the radio so that way she can't contact anybody. And we cut to a Halloran. He's talking to the Rangers again. He called him back and he's like yeah, like we tried them, but they're either have the radio off or they're somewhere where they can't hear it. But I'll keep trying them throughout the night. And he's like Okay, that'll, you know, thank you for that, I'll call, call in a few hours or something like that.

Speaker 1:

But then it cuts to 8am. So now we've gone from days to the hour and we see it's a I forgot what flight it is. It might be a continental but it's a tower. And he's on a flight going to Denver. Because he talks to a stewardess or flight attendant. It says you know when will we be landing in Denver? She says, oh, about 820. And he's like okay, thank you. So he's on his way to like get involved, since he can't get in contact with them. We get another short shot of Jack typing, again, this is this one from behind. And we get another, you know, zoom out and then cut back to the Denver airport. We see the plane touching down on the snow.

Speaker 1:

See Halloran call his friend Larry, that works at a garage in the area and he's like hey, like I was. Like, hey, dick, like how's it going? Like how's the weather down there? Like actually I'm in Denver. He's like oh, what are you doing here? He's like well, to tell you the truth, I got to get up to the overlook and because the people taking care of it turned out to be unreliable, he's like completely unreliable, assholes is what he says. And he's like so I'm going to rent a car and head to you. And then, oh, he asked him like what the roads are like, and he's like, oh, it's. You know, snow is pretty bad and all the roads are closed. He's like, oh, okay, I'm going to have to borrow your snow. No cat then is like I'll be to you in five hours. I got to get a rental car and all that. We see him driving and we can hear like on the radio, a little bit like some of the news about the weather and everything, how it's like this big blizzard and we see a semi truck that's flipped and it has like a like a small VW, like pinned like between the trailer and the cab, but like it doesn't look too smashed but it's still like it's a pretty gnarly accident because he got the trailer on its side and the cabs like upside down and so, like weather's pretty crazy, he's got to be driving pretty slow.

Speaker 1:

Wendy and Danny are watching cartoons. They're watching Road Runner up in the room. Danny's still out of it and, you know, in Tony mode still. And so she tells him like hey, like I'm going to go talk to your dad for a little bit, but I'm going to lock the door and so just stay in here and everything's going to be fine. But we see in the background that she grabs the baseball bat before she heads downstairs.

Speaker 1:

So she goes into the big like a common area where he's usually typing and she's like calling like Jack, you in here, you know and she goes up to the typewriter which has changed colors, by the way, another one of those like weird inconsistencies and she goes to the typewriter and then notices like that, you know, looks at the page that he's typing and notices that it's the same phrase over and over and over again and it's just all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. You know, over and over, you know, and with some like variations. You know there's some like misspellings and there's some variations on like the spacing. And then she goes to like look at the stack of papers that are already typed and it's the same thing, but like he'll just change up the like layout of the page and everything, and it's just still all the same phrase. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, like over and over and over again. And so she's like flipping through, and then she's like obviously like getting like more concerned the more she's like reading it and everything.

Speaker 1:

And then cut to the camera, panning into the room, you know, from behind a pillar, and then we see that Jack is standing there watching her look at this, and then he like breaks the tension with like how do you like it?

Speaker 1:

And then she screams and grabs the bat and turns around like real quick, and he's like, oh, how can I help you? You know, he's like he's being like real menacing but like very calm at the same time, and he's, she's like oh, like, I just wanted to talk, like, and he's like oh, I'm here, what do you want to talk about, you know? And she's like oh, I forgot, you know, because she's like very scared at this point and it's like you forgot, could it be about Danny? Is that what you wanted to talk about? You know that type of tone and everything.

Speaker 1:

And then she's like yeah, like I want to talk about Danny, like what about Danny? Like what should be done with him, like you want to talk about what should be done with Danny. And then like what do you think? And it's like I think we should like take, I think we should take him to a hospital. So now he starts to get a little more like aggressive with his like tone towards her and he's like when should we take him to a hospital? And then she's like as soon as possible. And he like mocks her, like as soon as possible and stuff like that.

Speaker 1:

And then you know she's kind of like backing out of the room, like towards the stairs, and he's just like slowly following her and everything. She has the bat in her hand and you know she starts backing up the stairs and he's getting just more aggressive and everything. And he's like Wendy, like put the bat down, I'm not going to hurt you. And she's like, but now she's like getting more scared and she's kind of like swinging at him a little bit and it's like honey, you didn't let me finish, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just going to bash your brains. In Just got to bash them, right, the fucking. And you know, and he's like, give me the bat, honey.

Speaker 1:

He's like Wendy, you know, and he's like, you know, being like real, uh, like hammy, and like goofy, but like still scary and like. This is what makes me think that like no one could do this like as good as, uh, jack Nicholson, because he's just so perfect at being like already scary and intense, like at his baseline, and but yeah, and he's just like he's being like so funny but so scary at the same time. Uh, it's so hard to like put it into words, but yeah, then he like he tries to like grab the bat and she like hits him on the hand and he like goes to like grab it, like, and then she like hits him on the head and then he like falls back down the stairs and like tumbles down and everything. And that like kind of like knocks him out or puts him out of it, at least like incapacitates him and she drags him to the, uh, the pantry that you know locks and everything, and she's just like dragging him by his feet and he's like all disoriented and everything. He's like trying to like grab stuff, but he like doesn't have like the strength really and uh, she like struggles way too long with the uh the lock or you know, cause there's like a pin inside the the door for the pantry and she's just like trying to like open it and then realizes, oh, I gotta take the pin out and you know uh, and drags him in there.

Speaker 1:

And then he like starts to come to a little bit and goes to like get up and grab the door before she can close it. But uh, his, uh, he had, you know, twisted his ankle when he fell down the stairs and you know kind of like stumbles and falls into boxes of, uh, rice Krispies. But she gets the door closed and gets it locked and everything, and he starts talking to her and he's like, oh, wendy, like I'm hurt real bad, you know, trying to like, you know, get her to sympathize with them or whatever. And she, but you know she's not falling for it. She grabs a knife uh, one of the kitchen knives is like one of the really long ones, uh to just to arm herself. Now she's like really upset and crying, obviously, you know, for good reason. She's saying like I'm going to get Danny and the snow cat and we're going to go down the mountain, you know, and get help, and then we'll come back for you. And then he starts laughing. He's like oh, you got a big surprise coming for you. Why don't you go check the snow cat and the radio? And then he's just starts laughing.

Speaker 1:

But I love this uh camera angle of him, uh, because he's like up against the door talking to her and but the camera is from like directly below and it's like a super cool shot. And then, I don't know why, I don't think there's any significance to it. It's just maybe just the thing that these types of doors have. But the door knobs like really long and I've always just like noticed that, like since the first time I watched it, and always just thought that was, you know, interesting. But it uh, it all like works like for for this shot and adds to the uh, the mise en scène.

Speaker 1:

So then we get the uh four PM info card and we see uh Jack waking up from, you know, he went to sleep inside the uh like on a pile of uh produce. And uh, there's a knock on the door and it's Grady, like talking to him through the door and it's like, hey, like some of us are thinking that maybe your head's not in this and that you can't, you're not the one to carry, carry this out. And he's like, no, like, come on, like I'll uh, if you let me out of here, I'll, uh, I'll do it, right, you know. And um, so this is, I think, the one concrete evidence that there is something supernatural, because how else could the door open without some kind of supernatural interference or intervention? Um, cause, he does get out of there Like Grady does open the door for him and Grady is supposed to be dead.

Speaker 1:

Then we cut to Dick. He's in the uh snow cat and he's like heading up the road, he's on his way, he's coming and you know, slowly but surely, uh. Then we cut to Danny and he's up walking around the room and Wendy's asleep in the bed and Danny's like, uh, just walking around the room, slowly going to red, um, but like real raspy. Now, this I can do with my sick voice. He just keeps repeating it. And, uh, he goes over to the table, he picks up the kitchen knife and kind of like runs his finger on the blade Um, you don't really see if his like finger like bleeds or whatever, but apparently it's not. But then he he's not satisfied with the results, I guess, because then he walks over to the vanity and picks up, uh, wendy's lipstick, but he still has that knife in his hand and he's still the entire times still doing the red um, red um, you know, and that same cadence and everything. And then heads over to the uh door and starts writing red rum. The second R is backwards, I'm pretty sure, and maybe the E um, but it just says red rum and lips lipstick on the white door. And then, after he's done writing it, he still has like the lipstick and the knife and then he starts saying it like a little blotter red rum, red rum, red rum. And then now it's starting to become his own like regular speaking voice again and he's just yelling it.

Speaker 1:

And then this wakes up, wendy, finally, and which as a parent I'm thinking you would have woken up a lot sooner. But you gotta also think that she's going on like way less sleep and way more trauma and stress than the average parent. But yeah, she wakes up, you know, like, is like oh my God, like why do you have a knife? Like takes the knife out of his hand and everything and hugs him like Danny, like it's okay, it's okay, like stop, and uh. Then, like, as she's hugging him, real light, like looks in the mirror and sees the red rum which in the mirror spells murder, and then screams. And as she screams, then oh, here comes Jack with an axe and starts uh, you know, chopping into the door and so screams. They get up and uh, grab the knife and run into the bathroom and lock that door and he's just like chopping and chopping away at the at the door.

Speaker 1:

So one of the key inspirations for this scene was a silent film called the phantom carriage and silent horror film. Uh, I think Sweden is where it's from. Uh, I, that's one that I only saw uh recently, but always knew that it was um the inspiration for this scene. Uh, great movie, though I should have had the criteria now with me so I could show it. But whatever, just trust that I own it. But yeah, he's chopping at the door.

Speaker 1:

Uh, wendy and Danny are in the bathroom. She gets the bathroom window open and luckily there's a snow bank that is about the height of their like you know. Fourth, fifth story window gets Danny out, or trying to get Danny out the window to um to slide down there. We'll get both of them out the window, hopefully. But then uh, jack gets through the uh, the first door, like to the, the main room, and uh like goes up to the like hole that he chopped in and he says, wendy, I'm home, you know just all you know like it's a sitcom or something. And uh, gets that door open. Uh, she gets Danny out the window but she can't fit through.

Speaker 1:

Jack slowly meanders over to the uh bathroom door that she is behind and he's like knocks on it like all soft and he's like little pig, little pig, let me come in. And apparently he uh ad libs a lot of this stuff, cause Kubrick just wanted him to just go crazy, you know, and you know be be crazy and Jack Nicholson is just great at this and so a lot of this stuff was ad libs. But he's like little pig, little pig, let me come in. And he's like not by the hair on my chinny chin, chin then all huff and all puff and all blow your house in. And then he starts chopping at that door and it's just cutting back between, like this, like crazy rack focus, uh, shots of him chopping up the door from the outside to inside the bathroom where we see her like screaming in the corner and like just amazing, and you can see like the wood like splitting and the acts coming through and everything like that. And uh, she's just like Jack, no, you know, just screaming and everything.

Speaker 1:

And then probably the most iconic scene from the entire movie is he puts his head in the. He finally gets one of the panels like chopped through and he puts his head through the like hole and says here's Johnny. You know it's a reference to the uh, the old tonight show, old old tonight show. At this point, uh, when he's like reaching his hand through to get the door knob, she slices the back of his hand, which always like makes my hand hurt, but uh, and he, you know, retracts that and everything and he's like holding his hand from bleeding. And then, at this point, when they all calm down for a sec, uh, they hear the uh snow cat outside, cause, you know, dick Halleran's coming, and so they all stop and kind of listen, like okay, like someone's here, you know, and then a Jack kind of wanders off and then Wendy kind of, like you know, calms down and collects herself in the bathroom.

Speaker 1:

But one another weird inconsistency that, uh, that I've always noticed but I haven't seen pointed out too often, is that, uh, he's chopping at the door and he's focusing on this one panel that he gets out. But after the you know, the snow cats coming and we see, like, uh, uh reverse shot of the door, we noticed that the other panel in the door is missing, but it's like a clean cut versus like the chopped cut of the other panel. So I don't know if that was just a mistake or what, but you could also see it, uh, from in the bathroom on those later shots. But we see Danny running through, uh, the kitchen to find a hiding spot because you, you know he went out the snow bank and then back into the hotel because you know why are you going to go hide in the snow where it's probably below freezing, um, and so he hides in one of the uh metal cabinets in the kitchen and makes as much noise as possible. For some reason, one of the only times I'm like Danny come on. I mean otherwise he's like pretty smart for a lot of this movie, but that's like the one time where I'm like, all right, maybe you should do that quieter or not hide in the noisiest cabinet possible.

Speaker 1:

But we see a dick go into the hotel and then he's walking through the lobby and everything. He's like hello, anybody here? And he's just like slowly walking through and uh, really good at like tension building because you know something's going to happen, but you don't know what, and there's no like score or anything in this part, and he's just like walking. And then he gets to a certain point and then you hear then Jack comes around the corner, buries an axe right in his chest and uh, very reminiscent of the scene in Fargo that we just covered. Um, so that's the second uh chest axe uh for this month. Dick screams, danny screams because of their con, their shining connection, and uh, jack kind of gets up with the axe and then like has this smile, like okay, now I know where Danny's at, and he kind of like looks towards the kitchen and then Danny gets out and he sees him get out of the cabinet and run down the hallway and he starts chasing after him. But luckily Jack has his legs injured so he's limping as he's doing this and he's chasing after him.

Speaker 1:

We see Wendy has now left the bathroom and is like going to look for Danny and also someplace safe to hide, probably to. Um, she's walking around the hotel all frazzled and then but she can hear these like weird chants that are happening, like uh, but uh, you can't really make out what they're saying. Um, maybe someone has before, but I don't know. But there's this like ominous chanting and she kind of like clocks it and notices and then, like slowly goes up the stairs, she comes around a corner and she looks into an open, uh open room and that we see a uh guy in a bear costume, but we only see like the back of it, the backside of it. It has like one of those butt flaps which is open. So we see like some dude's ass sticking out of this bear suit and then the bear like sits up, the bears on his knees, in front of the bed and then the bear sits up and looks and then we see that there is a man that was sitting on the edge of the bed who also sits up. So this guy in a bear costume is blowing some 1920s dude and there's no explanation for it, nothing other than like when DC's it. And there we get the zoom, the quick zoom, and she screams and runs away. And they're just like what? Uh yeah, just one of those like crazy scenes, that with no explanation. And I'm kind of glad there is no explanation because it's just so funny.

Speaker 1:

You see Danny run outside, um uh, jack Comes up to the door, realizes that Danny went outside, decides to turn the lights on because there's like a power box inside, and he turns the lights on for the maze. So, so those lights come on. Danny runs out into the maze, jack follows way behind because he's still limping. And now there, you know, we get a couple shots of our steady cam shots of Danny running through the maze and Jack following, cut back in on the hotel with Wendy. She comes across Dick's body you know she's freaked out by that turns around, goes the other way, runs into like a butler or waiter or something you know, dressed in the tuxedo, with a you know Split head, like literally a split head, with like blood coming down, and he, like cheers is her and says a great party, isn't it? And then, you know, screams, runs the other way, comes into a room with like, goes into the lobby and there's like just a bunch of like skeletons and cobwebs, which is, you know, one of the weaker scares, I guess. But you know, whatever, I think it's cool.

Speaker 1:

Then Cut back into the maze. Danny's running through the snow and then stops, realizes that he's making footprints in the snow and is like, has the genius idea to backtrack his footprints and so, you like, walks backwards through like the footprints he already made and then jumps off to the side after he gets back, like a few and and hides behind a hedge, but then, like covers those tracks, so that way the footprints just go and go to a certain Position and then stop, you know, and then there's no more footprints. Cut back to Wendy. She comes around a corner and then we see the iconic blood flood of all the blood pouring out of the elevator and everything. You know that freaks her out. Cut back into the maze and we see Jack come to the end of the tracks and he's, like looking around and like Danny, you know, like, and he's all confused and everything and just kind of, just picks a direction and just keeps going, you know. And then once Danny's, like you know, behind the other hedge, like listening, and you know he's all freaked out, once the coast is clear he gets back out of the you know, from his hiding spot and follows his own tracks Backwards out out of the maze. So genius, like absolutely genius. I don't think I, I don't think I would have been that smart as a kid, but luckily my dad never went crazy and tried to kill, you know, me and my family at a hotel. So, like I said, he follows his tracks out of the maze, gets out of there.

Speaker 1:

Wendy is outside, she sees him coming out of the maze. She's like like Danny, like throws the knife down into the snow, which I think she could, should have held on to it because who knows at this point and but they're reunited, they hug, they embrace, they get in the snow cat. We see Jack inside the maze, like still looking for Danny and still yelling like Danny. But you know we could hear from his voice that he's getting more and more tired and Exhausted and running out of steam. We hear the snow cat power up and he so does he. And then now he's like freaking out like daddy, you know, and now it's like it's not even like clear what he's saying at this point. Now he's just like screaming, like you know. And when we see the snow cat pull away and you see him like kind of struggle a little bit to get out of the maze and then hard cut to Jack Torrance's dead frozen body sitting in the snow and Then the music comes back in like the big band 1920s music and we're getting just this like very slow zoom down the hallway at this like group of pictures on the wall in the hotel and Finally get to this one and it says 4th of July ball overlook hotel of July 4th 1921. And we slow zoom into that picture and then right front and center in this big group of 1920s partygoers, is Jack Torrance right there in the middle, and there we go. Like that that's the shot we end on. Is Jack, you know, you've always been here, is what Grady said to him. So there we go. That's the end of the movie.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, great, great movie. I love it so much. I mean a lot of. It is just like weird supernatural stuff of like you kind of just if you try to put logic to it and it's just, you're gonna hurt your brain. I think you could just accept that there is always this Maybe it's like the same soul, like moving from person to person, you know what I mean. And then like as, because maybe when Grady killed his family it was his picture on the wall in there, or you know. So is it like, is it the same entity, different body, or is it, you know, is it just always change, or has it just always been that like if that was just his destiny to go to that hotel, try to kill his family, fail and be a picture on the wall? You know, but in the end it doesn't really matter. You know Lincoln Park. I think it's just a good movie.

Speaker 1:

I think good movies Challenge your understanding. They don't have to have all the answers. I think I prefer when there are things unanswered. I think some lot of my favorite movies leave a lot of stuff unanswered. Now, not everything, you know. Sometimes it is nice to just get like a closure on something and I think this movie does have closure. It's just not answering every single mystery. You know it leaves a lot of unanswered questions and you don't have to have an answer to everything. But yeah, it's, it's just so, so mesmerizing and I know that there was like a different alternate ending not even an alternate ending like the original ending was Only shown in theaters for, I think, two weeks and it was. So.

Speaker 1:

We see, you know, jack frozen, cut to a hospital where Mr Ollman is there and and visiting with Wendy and Danny, just like making sure they're okay and everything like that. You know you get some exposition about that. Jack's body was never found and stuff like that, and Ollman hands Danny the tennis ball, the one that Jack was throwing around, and everything. So it is just like one of those Mystery things of like, oh like, did Ollman know? Is he part of it? You know one of those things. It's just like Can of worms that ultimately Stanley Kubrick felt was unnecessary and cut it out and destroyed, I think, most of the prints, but obviously some have to exist, because I have seen like at least screen grabs of One of these pieces or one of these scenes. So it it exists somewhere, just not Available to us. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, I think it, I think the ending works the way it does. I mean it's. Would that have been a cool ending? Yeah, I don't think I didn't have a problem with it and I don't have a problem with the way it ends. Now I love this movie so much and I hope you guys do too. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please remember to Like, subscribe, rate, review, watch, listen, all those things. Tell your friends, tell your family, stick around for the other two snow Movies this month and stick around for whatever else I get cook up for the rest of the year. Thanks for watching, thanks for listening. Hope you guys have a good week. Thanks, bye.

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