The Overlook

In Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of The Shining, Jack Torrence and his family move to the historic Overlook Hotel to be the winter caretaker. But over the months of snowbound solitude, Jack begins to lose it. The hotel comes alive around the family as Wendy tries to keep her son safe from her now  homicidal husband. It happens slow,  but the characters soon realize what a dangerous place the Overlook is.

" As far as my wife is concerned, I'm sure she will be absolutely fascinated when I tell her about it. She's a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict." This is Jack's response when Ullman tells him the story of how a past caretaker murdered his family in the hotel one winter. This plays in with Carroll's essay "Why Horror?" He discusses why horror as a genre is so popular and the draw it has. Although Jack says this about his wife, he never tells her about the murders. We are shown horrific events and given hints at the Overlook's past through Danny and his gift of shining.

Carroll discusses the narrative structure of horror films and their importance. Throughout the movie, the monster that is the hotel is slowly revealed to the viewer, as well as the characters. The most important facts are shown to us through Danny, which makes his character especially important to the structure of the film. In Horror movies the viewer is usually a few steps ahead of the characters, which gives the viewer a kind of pleasure while watching things play out.

Jack is slowly revealed to be taken over by the monster, and like Carroll states, "...the human characters in the tale must undergo a process of discovering that the monster exists, which in turn, may lead to a further process of confirming that discovery in an ensuing scene or series of scenes." Wendy has to realize that her husband has been taken over by the hotel, which takes time. Watching someone you love become a monster is a realistic fear, although this sense may be taken to extremes. But like Carroll's points about monsters, the viewer craves the reveal and always wants to know more.