Wednesday, March 26, 2014

The Overuse of Loud Noises in The Shining

The Shining, by all accounts is a pretty terrifying movie. It's one of the quintessential horror films that is heavily referenced and many other films looks towards it for inspiration. Among the many tactics the film uses to convey itself as scary, the film has a heavy emphasis on sound. Very frequently, music is loud, obnoxious and in your face. Quite frankly, this is my biggest gripe with the film. Well, that, and Danny Lloyd had a very punch-able face as a kid.

Anyway, back to the sound. I understand why the director decided to use this sort of loud and meaningful music and whatnot, but I found that it more got in the way than anything. Every meaningful scene just seemed to be dominated by the massive amount of, well, for lack of a better term, ear rape. I hated every scene where the loud music and sound effects were blasting from the speakers.

The loud music was always something that, at least for me, took away from the scene as a whole. It always seemed to be a hindrance, rather then being beneficial.

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