10 Best The Shining Moments
5. “Here’s Johnny!”
“Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in!”
Jack reaches peak insanity as he axes through the door to the bathroom where his wife is, spouting nursery rhymes as he swings the axe forward. It’s a sequence that is so iconic that it would be difficult to find anyone who is unfamiliar with the iconic image of Jack’s head grinning through the gap in the door, the family patriarch maniacally calling out “here’s Johnny!”
This scene comes after Wendy has asked Jack if they can leave and find Danny a doctor. So many evil forces are at play at this point that Jack has lost his mind and sabotaged the radio and snow cat, meaning there is no way out of the hotel and no way to contact anyone. Wendy has locked Jack in the food storeroom in the kitchen, but he has somehow found a way out. At this point it seems that Jack is unstoppable, even locked doors can’t keep him contained. In a film that was criticised around the time of its release for its slow pace, this is a moment where everything seems to be colliding together and happening at such an alarming rate that we are unsure as to how or if the situation will diffuse before Jack butchers his family.
This is perhaps the most famous moment from The Shining, referenced and parodied in many movies and TV shows, from ‘Bob’s Burgers’ to Finding Nemo (2003). The moment itself was a reference to Johnny Carson’s entrance on ‘The Tonight Show’ and was improvised by Jack Nicholson. Kubrick, who had lived in England for such a long time, was unfamiliar with the reference but obviously liked what he had done. It took a lot of takes to get this right as well, due to the fact that Jack Nicholson had trained as a firefighter and was breaking the doors down with too much ease. The props crew had created easy-break doors but these proved too easy for the actor. In the end, this scene took 60 doors and 3 days of shooting to complete.
Voted the number one scary moment by the public for Channel 4’s The 100 Greatest Scary Moments, the raw insanity displayed by Jack Nicholson and genuine fear portrayed by Shelley Duvall have made this moment absolutely unforgettable. Over many decades of horror cinema there have been countless monsters, ghosts and evil entities, but The Shining proves to us that the thing we should be most afraid of is man.
4. Daddy and Danny
“I would never do anything to hurt you. Never. You know that, don’t you?”
Stanley Kubrick’s genius take on this would-be tender exchange between a father and son twists this moment into something truly sinister.
Danny has been allowed to go to his room to fetch a toy but only if he promises to be very quiet because his dad is sleeping. When he comes through the front door to their apartment, Jack is sat up and beckons him over. This is the only moment in the film where Jack and Danny are alone together – our chance to witness the way they interact. This is particularly significant since we have learned earlier in the film that Jack has hurt Danny in the past and we are unsure of what kind of relationship they have, or how patient or tolerant Jack is as a father
Being aware of the fact that Jack has hurt his son in the past gives this scene an underlying hum of danger. At this point, Jack has not shown many signs of aggression towards his family whilst at the hotel (aside from angrily telling Wendy to never disturb him whilst he is writing), but there is unease between the father and son. Danny seems reluctant to go towards his dad, and Jack is strangely calm. The music in the scene gently climbs and falls as questions and answers are exchanged, building towards Danny asking Jack if he would ever hurt him or his mother.
Stanley Kubrick originally wanted this scene to not feature any music. He believed the power of the scene was in its silence. It was music editor Gordon Stainforth who convinced Kubrick to add music to the scene, allowing for the eerie whirring and screeching of the music to elevate this moment to what it is today.
The tension throughout this interaction is backed by the sustained two-shot that comprises it. In other scenes, such as the interaction between Danny and Mr Halloran where they discuss shining, the scene flits between the two characters, focusing on one face at a time. This scene, in contrast, focuses on the two characters at once, never breaking the shot. This intensifies our sense of unease and pairs well with the horror of the music. This is definitely one of the most important scenes, especially in a film that is in many ways about traditional family values and what it means to be the man of the house.
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3. Mr Halloran Tells Danny About Shining
“My grandmother and I could hold conversations entirely without ever opening our mouths. She called it shining.”
In the kitchen of the hotel, Danny and Mr Halloran are sitting together having bowls of ice cream. It is early on in the film, and the family have just arrived at the hotel for their whip-around tour. This is a quiet moment – nobody is walking around, no music is playing, and even though the characters are having ice cream, no clinking of spoons is heard. It is a scene that commands the viewer to hold their breath, to capture every word that is said.
This scene is particularly important to the film because it explains to us, as well as to Danny, what shining is. Scatman Crothers’ gentle and considerate delivery is incredible, his concern for Danny clear in each word and every raised brow. Danny receives more paternal care in this scene than he does in any other moment of the film, teaching him that his ability to hear people’s thoughts and see certain visions is a special trait called shining. Danny goes on to ask if Mr Halloran is scared of the hotel and then asks what is in room 237. Halloran firmly tells him that there is nothing in room 237 and that he should stay out, begging us all to wonder what could possibly be in there that is so terrible.
Scatman Crothers said in the documentary Making The Shining (1980) that he thought working with Danny was beautiful. “Just like my son,” he said, his eyes brimming with tears. This scene broke the world record for the most amount of takes ever – 148 according to The Shining’s Steadicam operator Garrett Brown. Perhaps this speaks of the importance Kubrick considered it to have?
Danny Lloyd spoke about his experience filming this scene at Horrorcon 2019, where he mentioned the attention to detail was so great that they must’ve broke the world record for the most amount of ice cream used in one scene. Every time they finished a take, they would swap his bowl out for a fresh one, even if he had only had one bite.
