How does The Shining fit thriller conventions?

Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining is an extremely popular and influential psychological horror/thriller, setting a basis on which many following films in the same genre would seek to emulate. While many people would view The Shining as a horror film, it also contains many conventions frequently found in the thriller genre and particular sub genres, such as supernatural thriller and psychological thriller.

Most of the narrative in The Shining follows the conventions of a psychological thriller. It follows Jack Torrance's slow descent into insanity, which is a key narrative feature of psychological thrillers, which typically focus on a mental conflict rather than physical. Another narrative point used in psychological thriller films, is where the conflict of the protagonist is within himself, rather than from any other external source or antagonist. This is clearly shown in the character development in the character of Jack, who goes from being the almost the sole protagonist at the very beginning of the film to the primary antagonist and main threat to the characters. The character development is also important, as like other psychological thriller films, The Shining mainly focuses on character over plot.

One of the main features of The Shining which ties it to the psychological thriller sub genre is how perception and reality is questioned. This is a very common convention in films that typically deal with one character slowly becoming insane, as it tends to replicate the effects of their oncoming illness. This is a frequently recurring theme in the film, as many of the surreal, paranormal events that happen to the family seem to be some sort of hallucination such as the twin girls who appear to Danny and the recurring scene in which blood pours from the elevators down the corridor. These events, particularly through how surreal they appeal to be, as well as the film's use of very short montages of extremely brief shots of horrific imagery and events, tend to show a slightly unreal side to these events. However, as the film reaches the conclusion, reality is questioned even more with the final shot of Jack Torrance in 1921, which leaves a final confusion with the audience as to the truth. Another narrative point that links The Shining to the thriller sub genre is the use of intelligence or wits to overcome the antagonist or conflict, which is found when Danny loses his father by utilizing the method in which his father is chasing him, and turns it to his advantage, walking backwards through his tracks.

Also, elements of the narrative connect The Shining to the supernatural thriller sub genre, in particular "The Shining" itself, which is a form of telepathy, making it a clear supernatural element. It is also very important to the narrative as a whole, making the supernatural thriller aspect explicit. Also, many of the hallucinations during the film, if not just hallucinations, then would clearly be supernatural events, and as implied by the previous ghost stories told to the family and the fact that the Overlook Hotel is built on a Native American burial ground, these events could possibly be ghosts, and would therefore be supernatural.

The mise en scene of The Shining fits in with the appropriate mise en scene typical of the thriller genre. It takes place in a modern time setting, although does not take place in an urban environment, which slightly goes against thriller conventions, although it is necessary for the character development. The Shining features a lot of modern props, such as the radio and the snowcat, as is typical of the modern setting of thriller films. Also, the lighting of the film corresponds to thriller conventions as the lighting is relatively low key throughout, although it subverts the tendency to use dark environments as the Overlook Hotel is reasonably well lit, although this also helps it avoid the stereotypical horror setting as well.

The sound used in The Shining easily fits into thriller conventions, as it is very suspenseful and is constantly used to build tension and mystery. It is also very hectic, with lots of strings playing at once, creating a confusion and unnerving atmosphere, building the tension and giving the audience the impression that horrific events are about to unfold. Also, the strings are very high pitched, being even more unnerving and building the tension, as the audience expects something to happen as the strings get higher and build the suspense.

The camerawork uses the wide variety of shot types typically found in thriller films and also uses lingering shots with very long durations to set an unnerving mood. These long duration shots break the convention of thriller films using very short shots, but in breaking the convention, allows a more strange and unusual, and in breaking the conventions, unexpected atmosphere to develop from the use of long duration shots.

Overall, The Shining uses many key aspects of it's mise en scene, sound, camerawork and narrative to tie it to the thriller genre and related sub genres in narrative.