A new detail about actor Jack Nicholson in horror film The Shining has left film fans reeling.
Stanley Kubrick’s film, which was released in 1980, is considered one of the best horrors of all time and, over the years, has become an annual Halloween staple.
The film hs also been the subject of numerous books and documentaries and, in these projects, film theorists have dissected the film, sharing ideas and hidden refrences featured within every scene.
However, Kubrick author and essayist Fillippo Ulivieri has noticed something that, it seems, no one else has ever spotted before.
In a 50-part X/Twitter thread, shared earlier this year, Ulivieri wrote: “I’ve noticed something odd happening in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. True, there’s plenty of odd things going on in The Shining, but this is really weird.”
He added: “I don’t think anyone has ever noticed it before, because I cannot find anything about it. No article, no video, nothing.”
Ulivieri then went on to point out the multiple times in the film that Nicholson, in character as Jack Torrance, looks directly down the lens of the camera.
It’s highlighted that, while Nicholson does this many times from the beginning of the film, right up until its frosty conclusion, it is almost imperceptible as the stare never lasts that long.
Ulivieri also added: “I am talking about all the times in which Jack Torrance looks at the camera but there’s no one to look at.”
Backing up the spot is a scene from documentary Making the Shining in which Kubrick is seen asking Nicholson to glance directly at his camera in the moments preceding him axeing the door down.
Jack Nicholson looking at the camera in ‘The Shining’— (Columbia-EMI)
He theorises that the looks could be to unnerve the audience, without them realising. It’s also suggested that the camera could be a representation of a ghost from the Overlook Hotel, which Nicholson “spots” early on.
Fans of the film are praising Ulivieri, who also posted a video about the theory, with many hailing the perception as “brilliant”, “fantastic” and “fascinating”.
