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Stanley Kubrick´s The Shining (1980) is an esteemed member of the twentieth century´s pantheon of outstanding films while also perhaps being the director´s most accessible film. It is a rarity in that on the one hand it was a successful mainstream horror film about a violent father in a deserted and haunted hotel, but on the other is a more rarefied and esoteric object for cult audiences who are convinced that the film means something totally different. Indeed, the film appears replete with enigmatic and provocative allusions, which provide The Shining with an almost unmatched sense of resonance.

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K. J. Donnelly is professor of film and film music at the University of Southampton, UK, and author of many books, including The Spectre of Sound (2007), Occult Aesthetics (2014), and Magical Musical Tour (2015).

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