Sound in The Shining - Stanley Kubrick (1980)

Stanley Kubrick’s critically acclaimed dark epic, The Shining, is widely considered to be one of the best horror movies of all time. The film, which is based on Stephen King’s book by the same name, follows Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, an unemployed writer, who takes the job of overlooking the large and secluded Overlook hotel over the winter while staying there with his wife, played by Shelley Duvall, and his psychic son,   played by Danny Lloyd, who has the ability to see both past and future events.  While at the hotel, Jack slowly slips into insanity. He sees visions of old hotel staff members, and guests, and eventually even tries to murder his family.

            Although Kubrick uses many aspects of filmmaking, such as cinematography, editing, and Misce en scene effectively in The Shining, most significant is his masterful use of sound. Throughout the movie, Kubrick uses both Diegetic and non-diegetic sound cues to manipulate and guide audiences. This is shown even from the opening scene of the film in which a slow and eerie music track is projected over shots of Jack Torrance driving up to the Overlook Hotel for his job interview. This part of the score lets audiences know that there is something about the hotel that is not quite right.

Kubrick conveys a very unsettling feeling through his use of sounds throughout the movie. The juxtaposition of the muted and extremely loud sounds of Danny’s plastic tricycle pounding against the wooden floor and then rolling across the many rugs in the deserted hotel are one of the ways in which he has this. Also throughout the film, the sounds change pitch often which also affects the audience. For example, when Danny first sees the two dead girls in the hallway, very high pitched screeching noises are played alongside distorted voices, yet, at other points, very low and somber tones are used. Kubrick also uses the setting of the empty Overlook Hotel very well. Because of its size, and acoustics, things tend to echo in the Overlook Hotel. By then taking small things, like the throwing of a tennis ball against a wall, typing, or even just talking, and playing them without music over them, Kubrick was able to use this to accentuate the emptiness of the hotel and the loneliness that the Torrance’s have to deal with.

Even more impressive is the close synchronization that is presented between the sound design and the on screen action. Throughout nearly the entire movie, the movie’s musical tracks match up very closely with the pace of what’s happening in the film. When characters are talking, relaxing, or just doing normal things, the music is slow, yet, when the action begins to pick up, the music builds and rises dramatically. This is exemplified most clearly in the final scene of the movie in which Jack attempts to murder Wendy and Danny, and chases them through the hotel, snow, and maze.

Kubrick’s manipulation of sound is only one of the things that makes The Shining such a classic yet, it is definitely one of the most important parts of the film. Through the use of sound, Kubrick manipulates, scares, and unsettles audiences throughout the duration of the movie and shows how effective and critical sound design can be.