The Shining

I sometimes wonder how frightening The Shining would be if the soundtrack were muted. How scary would Jack Nicholson be if he were lugging an ax around without the creepy screech of violins and cellos like constant nails on a chalkboard? How troubling would a little kid be if his...

By Taylor Sullivan

July 19, 2007

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I sometimes wonder how frightening The Shining would be if the soundtrack were muted. How scary would Jack Nicholson be if he were lugging an ax around without the creepy screech of violins and cellos like constant nails on a chalkboard? How troubling would a little kid be if his imaginary friend, Tony, didn't speak like an eighty-year-old smoker? Elevators of blood? Easy. The soul-wrenching score is what drives Stanley Kubrick's classic horror adaptation of the Stephen King thriller. The drawn-out scrapes on string instruments scrawl the image of hacked-up twins into your brain; they're what tattoos Jack's pointy-eyebrow clown face onto the back of your eyelids.

The score will be that much more terrifying when it's blasted through the sound system at Red Rocks during the Denver Film Society's presentation of The Shining on Monday, July 23, as part of the famed Film on the Rocks series. Just $10 gets you a seat to see that creepy kid cruising around on his tricycle and Jack go hack-happy in the crazed hunt for his family's blood.

Douglas Cameron will offer the evening's pre-film entertainment starting at 7 p.m.; the film rolls around 9. For more information, go to www.redrocksonline.com.

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