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BFI Film Classics
The Shining
Roger Luckhurst's study of Kubrick's dark masterpiece 'The Shining' illuminates the film's themes, tropes and resonances through a detailed analysis of sequences and performances. Taking the maze as a key motif, Luckhurst offers numerous threads with which to navigate the strange twists and turns along the corridors of this enigmatic film.
- GenresFilmNonfictionHorror
100 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 2013
6 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Roger Luckhurst
61 books43 followersRoger Luckhurst is a British writer and academic. He is Professor in Modern and Contemporary Literature in the Department of English and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London and was Distinguished Visiting Professor at Columbia University in 2016. He works on Victorian literature, contemporary literature, Gothic and weird fiction, trauma studies, and speculative/science fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
April 1, 2023
Better watch the film again then…
November 10, 2013
Something about Stanley Kubrick seems to leave the contributing authors of the British Film Institute's BFI Film Classics series somewhat cowed. In the face of Kubrick's frequently deliberately elliptical narrative style and enigmatic approach to subtext, the authors become bound and determined to yoke the filmmaker to the histories of the genres in which he operates. Peter Kramer's volume on 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY burned off valuable pages (remember, these books are usually fairly brief) locating the film on the continuum of 1960s science fiction; a more boring, less intriguing take on arguably the most thought-provoking sci-fi film of all time would be difficult to imagine. Birkbeck College literature professor Roger Luckhurst likewise spends much of the early section of his book on the 1980 Gothic horror marvel THE SHINING trying to anchor Kubrick's work to the development of the horror genre in the 1970s, from tales of "psychic children" like 1976's THE OMEN to the slasher cycle that burst into the consciousness with the release of John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN in 1978. Seemingly unwilling to allow Kubrick's opus to stand as a one-off in the genre, Luckhurst will batter it into the horror-film box, come hell or high water. Again, not an interesting beginning to the book.
As it goes along, the volume gets, if not better, at least more readable, as Luckhurst digs into the thematic underpinnings of Kubrick's carefully worked out camera moves and art direction, and he provides a reasoned and persuasive defense for an over-the-top Jack Nicholson performance that has taken its fair share of flack over the years (from yours truly and others). Ultimately, though, as fun as this is to read, there's an inescapable sense that Luckhurst is not adding much new to the conversation on this film. (Perhaps his most up-to-date material, linking the film to Holocaust and Native American genocide allegory, as well as to the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, is already addressed in last year's documentary ROOM 237). Far from being a fan's text, this book would honestly best be read by casual viewers of the film. Die-hards will find much of this all too familiar.
As it goes along, the volume gets, if not better, at least more readable, as Luckhurst digs into the thematic underpinnings of Kubrick's carefully worked out camera moves and art direction, and he provides a reasoned and persuasive defense for an over-the-top Jack Nicholson performance that has taken its fair share of flack over the years (from yours truly and others). Ultimately, though, as fun as this is to read, there's an inescapable sense that Luckhurst is not adding much new to the conversation on this film. (Perhaps his most up-to-date material, linking the film to Holocaust and Native American genocide allegory, as well as to the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, is already addressed in last year's documentary ROOM 237). Far from being a fan's text, this book would honestly best be read by casual viewers of the film. Die-hards will find much of this all too familiar.
August 1, 2025
Let me preface this review by saying The Shining is one of my favourite films of all time. Before I met my husband, I don't think I'd ever watched it all the way through, being a scaredy cat about horror films. After being "converted", now my husband and I have to watch it at least once or twice a year!
This offering by Roger Luckhurst is a short but fantastic little book about The Shining. We have watched a few documentaries about the film, including the one by Kubrick's daughter, so some of the facts discussed here such as the 100 + takes of certain scenes and the harsh treatment of Shelley Duvall by Kubrick was no surprise to me. There are some interesting theories discussed including the resident evil of The Overlook hotel itself, the fact it is built on an old native American Indian burial ground, the dissolution and fracturing of the nuclear family mirrored in late 70's/early 80's America, the heavy editing by Kubrick and how that editing affected the overall message of the film, and the comparison of this film compared to other horrors floating around during the same decade (Halloween, The Omen, The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror etc).
The read is interesting, intriguing and engaging and I spent a while going through the notes and the bibliography at the end looking for other gems.
A thoroughly enjoyable 5 star read. Now onto the Alien one!
This offering by Roger Luckhurst is a short but fantastic little book about The Shining. We have watched a few documentaries about the film, including the one by Kubrick's daughter, so some of the facts discussed here such as the 100 + takes of certain scenes and the harsh treatment of Shelley Duvall by Kubrick was no surprise to me. There are some interesting theories discussed including the resident evil of The Overlook hotel itself, the fact it is built on an old native American Indian burial ground, the dissolution and fracturing of the nuclear family mirrored in late 70's/early 80's America, the heavy editing by Kubrick and how that editing affected the overall message of the film, and the comparison of this film compared to other horrors floating around during the same decade (Halloween, The Omen, The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror etc).
The read is interesting, intriguing and engaging and I spent a while going through the notes and the bibliography at the end looking for other gems.
A thoroughly enjoyable 5 star read. Now onto the Alien one!
June 29, 2018
If you are a male between the ages of 40 and 50 who was raised on movies, you have probably seen The Shining dozens of times. I’ve met so many people like me who have and can recite whole passages from it. As I said to my son a few weeks ago, I could probably watch it, start to finish, at any time. And yet it’s not one of my favorite movies. I love it, I’ve memorized it, but it’s not up there with Raging Bull and Notorious and The Searchers—and it can’t hit the heights hit by 2001. But it does exert some kind of strange compelling force on people who love it. As Luckhurst argues, we are pulled into the maze again and again.
The film Room 237 is a complete waste of time; the five conspiracy theorists aren’t crazy enough, and their ideas are as dull as that kid sophomore year who say in your dorm room and asked if the color green he was seeing as the same color green you were seeing. But this BFI essay about The Shining never steers into such boring territory. It’s readable, intelligent, and done with just the right touch. Like the film itself, however, it is never definitive: each section deals with a trope or theme but never goes all the way. For example, Luckhurst argues that the Room 237 sequence is the “navel” of the film and points put some interesting things about how it’s constructed—only to conclude by praising Kubrick for “detaching point of view from any secure ground of identity.” But perhaps this is as far as anyone can go when talking about a film as slippery as this one.
Luckhurst spends the early pages placing The Shining in the context of 1970s and early 1980s horror films. Figures such as the haunted house and the psychic child have a history of their own, a history that Luckhurst traces for the reader. This pays off when he later examines the ways in which the Room 237 sequence reflects the most famous horror scene of all: the shower in Psycho. Now that’s pretty interesting. He also treats the opening shots of the VW bug (followed as if by a demon), Shelly Duvall’s terrific performance (Jack Nicholson gets all the nods but she is just as incredible), and the film’s soundscape. He is very good on the film’s indeterminacies: the “fact” (which I’ve never quite understood) that there could be no window in Ullman’s office, the two Grady girls appearing as twins despite our being told they were two years apart, or that Ullman tells Jack about Charles Grady’s cabin fever but that Jack meets Delbert Grady in the bathroom scene. To Luckhurst, these items contribute the dream landscape of the film, just like the ending photograph of Jack on July 4, 1921. Luckhurst gives the ending its due and notes that it took a week (a week!) for Kubrick to complete that tracking shot into the photograph. Dream or not, the house always wins.
The film Room 237 is a complete waste of time; the five conspiracy theorists aren’t crazy enough, and their ideas are as dull as that kid sophomore year who say in your dorm room and asked if the color green he was seeing as the same color green you were seeing. But this BFI essay about The Shining never steers into such boring territory. It’s readable, intelligent, and done with just the right touch. Like the film itself, however, it is never definitive: each section deals with a trope or theme but never goes all the way. For example, Luckhurst argues that the Room 237 sequence is the “navel” of the film and points put some interesting things about how it’s constructed—only to conclude by praising Kubrick for “detaching point of view from any secure ground of identity.” But perhaps this is as far as anyone can go when talking about a film as slippery as this one.
Luckhurst spends the early pages placing The Shining in the context of 1970s and early 1980s horror films. Figures such as the haunted house and the psychic child have a history of their own, a history that Luckhurst traces for the reader. This pays off when he later examines the ways in which the Room 237 sequence reflects the most famous horror scene of all: the shower in Psycho. Now that’s pretty interesting. He also treats the opening shots of the VW bug (followed as if by a demon), Shelly Duvall’s terrific performance (Jack Nicholson gets all the nods but she is just as incredible), and the film’s soundscape. He is very good on the film’s indeterminacies: the “fact” (which I’ve never quite understood) that there could be no window in Ullman’s office, the two Grady girls appearing as twins despite our being told they were two years apart, or that Ullman tells Jack about Charles Grady’s cabin fever but that Jack meets Delbert Grady in the bathroom scene. To Luckhurst, these items contribute the dream landscape of the film, just like the ending photograph of Jack on July 4, 1921. Luckhurst gives the ending its due and notes that it took a week (a week!) for Kubrick to complete that tracking shot into the photograph. Dream or not, the house always wins.
April 10, 2021
I’m very familiar with Kubrick’s The Shining (I wrote an essay about it for my master’s degree), and I love all the conspiracy theories behind how Kubrick might’ve meant or not meant certain sweaters, posters, imagery or continuity errors (but it’s most definitely not one of my favourite movies ever). This is an interesting essay also taking into account the way the movie was received given the horror movies that were popular at the time, how it is perceived now, the acting performances of Duvall and Nicholson, the work environment with Kubrick as director and much more. Really enjoyed this and very interested to pick up more books in this BFI collection.
Also, I’d like to note you should see Kubrick’s film as something on its own; I don’t think it’s a good adaption from King’s book, I think it completely misses the essence, but I still admire it a lot.
Also, I’d like to note you should see Kubrick’s film as something on its own; I don’t think it’s a good adaption from King’s book, I think it completely misses the essence, but I still admire it a lot.
March 31, 2014
Word for word it is now one of my favorite meditations on _The Shining_.
Roger Luckhurst grounds his book well in the history of criticism of the film, and then launches forward with some unsettled (and unsettling) questions and observations of his own. With fresh metaphors, and free from the academic jargon, meandering, and stalled-out digressions that sometimes thickly crusts over film criticism, Luckhurst is a clean axe cutting to the heart of mystery amid these mountains.
Roger Luckhurst grounds his book well in the history of criticism of the film, and then launches forward with some unsettled (and unsettling) questions and observations of his own. With fresh metaphors, and free from the academic jargon, meandering, and stalled-out digressions that sometimes thickly crusts over film criticism, Luckhurst is a clean axe cutting to the heart of mystery amid these mountains.
January 27, 2022
Loved this. Big fan of The Shining and read this as a starting place to think about it more analytically as I do with other films. Luckhurst sheds light on all aspects of the film, in sufficient depth to ensure learning something new, but not enough to alienate those unfamiliar with film /sound /production terminology. Already looking at which BFI Film Classic to buy next!
February 11, 2024
این کتاب رو فقط به دوستانی پیشنهاد میکنم که رشتهی هنر رو به صورت تخصصی میخوان دنبال کنن. وگرنه برای مخاطب عام آثار کینگ یا کوبریک بشدت خستهکننده و پر از اصطلاحات تخصصی که از سطح دانش من بالاتر بود. اصلا باهاش ارتباط نگرفتم.
November 27, 2020
While it didn’t necessarily make me reconsider a film I’m already very familiar with, it makes for a compelling précis of dominant discussions about the film and raises a few points I hadn’t considered.
March 23, 2025
The Shining is my all time favourite horror film. Nothing will ever come close to it and nothing will ever be better than the film. But Luckhurst here has explained everything about the film, to the point of the beginning, to the characters to the scenes, even right down to the actual filmography. I like the fact that he spoke about the different films that have either inspired The Shining or inspired from The Shining.
Now as I've looked into how Kubrick minds work, I appreciate it even more now, because he was most certainly one of the kind, and there will be no one like him.
The comparison of the other films that Kubrick has done to The Shining is different yet similar, because of the cinematography and the filmography is the same but its perspective is completely and utterly different to any of the other films you would have seen. Kubrick has his way of filming and it works for him and only him.
I think I need to rewatch the film now I've read this book. I do love the book, The Shining too. But the film beats it so much more just because it's so visually beautiful yet horrifying in the sense of psychological.
Now as I've looked into how Kubrick minds work, I appreciate it even more now, because he was most certainly one of the kind, and there will be no one like him.
The comparison of the other films that Kubrick has done to The Shining is different yet similar, because of the cinematography and the filmography is the same but its perspective is completely and utterly different to any of the other films you would have seen. Kubrick has his way of filming and it works for him and only him.
I think I need to rewatch the film now I've read this book. I do love the book, The Shining too. But the film beats it so much more just because it's so visually beautiful yet horrifying in the sense of psychological.
December 25, 2024
Engaging “overlook” of Kubrick’s brilliant adaptation of King’s great novel. (King famously hated the film, arguably because of Kubrick rejecting his own script. King is often brilliant on the page of his novels, but his own later TV adaptation of the novel pales by comparison & shows the trap of a novelist’s insistence on importing his or her vision completely. Some novelists, by contrast, understand the difference in medium or are content with the check and the publicity for their work.)
Luckhurt is familiar to me from his academic work on Victorian horror literature, specifically Richard Marsh’s neglected masterpiece THE BEETLE, overshadowed by the contempary DRACULA). Luckhurts writes here for a more mainstream film viewer, but still does so with a rich background in literary and film antecedents. A balanced if not groundbreaking dip into the film’s context, production, key scenes, and afterlife. Not an in depth analysis, but rewarding all the same.
Luckhurt is familiar to me from his academic work on Victorian horror literature, specifically Richard Marsh’s neglected masterpiece THE BEETLE, overshadowed by the contempary DRACULA). Luckhurts writes here for a more mainstream film viewer, but still does so with a rich background in literary and film antecedents. A balanced if not groundbreaking dip into the film’s context, production, key scenes, and afterlife. Not an in depth analysis, but rewarding all the same.
December 29, 2014
The scope of this quick read is broad and structured well, its familiarity with the book and film suits me fine, it does a nice job of balancing the technical and the esoteric. Its best combines it all: think of the Wendy Carlos Williams buzzing frequencies as the hornets' nest that is important to the book but absent from the film. Stephen King's Shining was vertical travel, the monster in the basement, and Kubrick's movement was the horizontal steadicam slide through the labyrinth. Did you know that the designer of the steadicam worked on the film with Kubrick? All this and a lot of context, a lot of great observations, substantive food for thought- I like to read about the stuff I like, and this was a very that.
January 14, 2016
If you are a Kubrick nut like me, you'll enjoy this short (92 pages) study of The Shining, which concerns the film's context in terms of its place in the horror genre, as well as its hidden meanings and messages. Not as nutty an analysis as Room 237, but it will have you scratching your head when the author discusses how the film is a comment on the Holocaust, and the mistreatment of Native Americans.
December 24, 2014
One of my favorite BFI treatments. Luckhurst does an excellent job with balancing plot synopsis with deconstruction and criticism. If you've never read a BFI book before, start here.
March 8, 2023
Excellent exploration of the film.
Luckhurst creates a provocative blend of close readings, dialogue with reviews and critiques, and placements of The Shining in its era and its Gothic genealogy.
Luckhurst creates a provocative blend of close readings, dialogue with reviews and critiques, and placements of The Shining in its era and its Gothic genealogy.
August 13, 2017
This entry into the BFI series is a good, if fairly straightforward, overview of Kubrick's film. For the most part we're not breaking any new ground with this one but the information and analysis are solid across the board. The one observation I really appreciated was when Luckhurst discussed the outlandish interpretations of The Shining - particularly those in Room 237. He points out that while those interpretations are pretty far out there, they're also a product of the labyrinthine way the film is constructed. Kubrick's movie invites you to stare into in such a way that crazy theories inevitably emerge. Thus even the most outlandish readings of the film are in lock step with it; they're another example of being caught under the Overlook's spell
June 29, 2018
Not as fun as Paglia's The Birds, which greatly enhanced my appreciation for that masterpiece. This BFI book, though, while good, didn't have the same giddying effect. If you're a big fan of the film, you're probably familiar with this material already, although it does offer a few gems (for example, the infamous bathtub scene here mirrors Hitchcock's infamous shower scene.)
Based on a few reviews, I'm less eager to read more of the series. In fact, I cancelled my order for BFI's 2001.
Based on a few reviews, I'm less eager to read more of the series. In fact, I cancelled my order for BFI's 2001.
July 3, 2017
Really great discussion.
March 28, 2024
love that my literature degree is essentially becoming a film studies course 💁🏻♀️
December 21, 2025
This is a well written, high brow, analysis of The Shining. In many sentences Luckhurst lost me with his intellect. Here is an example: By this, I mean the radical sense in which fluid transpositions actually dissolve the singular point of view for a sense of mobile and shared subjectivity. I had to read that sentence three times and I am still not sure what it means.
The book is full of interesting facts and Luckhurst is very good at selecting real life examples or other films in the Hollywood canon to make his case in analyzing what the film is about or what it has to say.
I really enjoyed his analysis of why the film was not a critical darling when it released in 1980 and what US society was like at that time, something today that can only appreciated in history books. The Shining has grown in stature now, but then it was coming out in a wave of horror films that included children as central to the plot. Then, Kubrick seemed to be following a trend instead of being his usual auteur self. That was all new to me.
My only criticism is that Luckhurst seems to be unaware, at the time of him writing it seems, that the "4 July 1921" photo at the end of the film is photoshopped with Jack Nicholson face and that the photo is in fact real and not done as part of the film, making his analysis of the that photo less insightful.
Definitely one for The Shining fanbase.
The book is full of interesting facts and Luckhurst is very good at selecting real life examples or other films in the Hollywood canon to make his case in analyzing what the film is about or what it has to say.
I really enjoyed his analysis of why the film was not a critical darling when it released in 1980 and what US society was like at that time, something today that can only appreciated in history books. The Shining has grown in stature now, but then it was coming out in a wave of horror films that included children as central to the plot. Then, Kubrick seemed to be following a trend instead of being his usual auteur self. That was all new to me.
My only criticism is that Luckhurst seems to be unaware, at the time of him writing it seems, that the "4 July 1921" photo at the end of the film is photoshopped with Jack Nicholson face and that the photo is in fact real and not done as part of the film, making his analysis of the that photo less insightful.
Definitely one for The Shining fanbase.
July 31, 2015
The Shining, a much maligned movie when first released, is now considered one of the best, and most important, movies in the horror genre. Kubrick takes the breakdown of the modern family and situates it in a psychological and physical maze of madness. Luckhurst further examines the maze theme (as many already have), which is the most obvious reading of this film. Where Luckhurst succeeds the most is by arguing that The Shining bridges two different eras of the horror film: the socio-political radicalism of the 1970s and the campy, commercial spectacle of the 1980s. Overall, this is a fun read for all those interested in film, and the horror genre specifically.
May 28, 2020
Pretty much anything about Kubrick gets me going, and this little monograph of the would-be horror film has a lot to say about his technique, the themes of the film, and how it was initially misunderstood by critics.
March 25, 2014
Some interesting analysis that deals with the film itself and mostly eschews the Room 237 style conspiracy theory stuff.
August 10, 2014
Thoroughly recommended! For those 'Shining' fanatics who enthusiastically viewed the film documentary 'Room 237'.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews