“The Shining” turns 35 today. Can you believe it? Truly, Stanley Kubrick's horror classic feels as fresh today as it did when it was released. Not only that, but it stands as possibly the most picked-apart horror film in cinematic history. Scratch that: it is the most picked-apart horror film in cinematic history. Watch Rodney Ascher's fascinating documentary “Room 237” for more on this.
What always got me most about “The Shining” is that unlike most horror movies, there aren't a lot of peaks and valleys — i.e. setup-scare-setup-scare, loud-soft-loud. Instead it's an exercise in sustained horror, filled to the brim with small, subtle scare moments that — while not as iconic as, say, the elevator of blood, the bathtub crone, or Nicholson's psychotic invocation of that famous late-night line — are arguably all the more frightening for their very casualness.
Let's celebrate the 35th birthday of this ghoulish classic with ten “overlooked” (!) scare moments that may not get as much appreciation as their more famous counterparts but that rattled us just the same.