Credit: Far Out / Gage Skidmore
Even if terms like ‘elevated horror‘ and ‘social thriller’ are overused and antithetical, there has been a notable shift in the way that horror films are perceived.
While there used to be a notion that horror didn’t require real acting, it’s often that the genre requires actors to be more vulnerable than they would have to be in any other part. Film culture has finally reached a place in which some of the generation’s greatest actors are actively seeking out horror parts, which only brings more respect to the genre, and one person who understands this trajectory is Karen Gillan.
She starred in one of the most underrated horror films of the 21st century, Oculus, one of the first projects from Mike Flanagan that proved him to be one of the best modern maestros of the category, and she has continued to take on interesting thriller and horror roles, admitting that this is a result of a childhood obsession that she had with The Shining.
“I am a huge horror film fan,” she told Rotten Tomatoes, “I love them so much. I’ve always loved them. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been attracted to scary stuff; I don’t know why. When I was younger, I would watch a lot of the cheesier process-of-elimination slasher ’90s films, and then I feel like, as my tastes matured a little bit as I got older, I found The Shining, which is a movie that my dad had always spoken about with this weird fear, because he’d never finished the movie.”
Gillan said that she had spent her childhood obsessing over what could be so terrifying about The Shining, and said that it “was just incredible” when she finally got to see it. Although she stated that Stanley Kubrick is her favourite director, she said that she was equally impressed by the wild transformation of the film’s star.
“I just love that movie so much, and it’s my favourite onscreen performance of all time, from Jack Nicholson,” she gushed, “I think that he’s absolutely incredible. I’m ready to play a role like that”.
What some younger cinephiles might not realise is that The Shining was not instantly heralded as a masterpiece when it was released, as the response to what Kubrick did was far more divisive. Many took issue with the number of changes from the novel, including Stephen King himself, who openly disparaged the filmmaker.
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
Even though Nicholson has more Academy Award nominations than any other male actor, he was never even in consideration for awards for his performance as Jack Torrance. Shelley Duvall was even nominated for ‘Worst Actress’ at the Razzie Awards, which also nominated Kubrick for ‘Worst Director’.
Over time, The Shining’s reputation grew to be one of curiosity and respect, as it became clear how much detail Kubrick had put into every aspect of the way that the Overlook Hotel was portrayed. Not only was The Shining a film about a family that is torn apart, but one that explores the existential source of evil that has transcended generations. Jack Torrance has become one of Nicholson’s most defining roles, as it’s impossible to imagine another A-lister of his generation being willing to play such a depraved, psychopathic, and completely irredeemable horror villain.
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