Similarities In The Amityville Horror And The Shining

The Shining is a 1980 horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick. The Shining starts with the Torrance family moving from their apartment in Boulder, Colorado, to the Overlook Hotel, located in the isolated Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Jack Torrance, the father has accepted a position as the winter caretaker of the hotel in its off-season. His wife, Wendy Torrance and son, Danny Torrance move into the hotel with him. As the film unfolds the hotel becomes a place of tension and menace. It is revealed that Danny has supernatural psychic abilities and can see the ghosts of the hotel and so does Jack. Jack's sanity begins to deteriorate due to the influence of the supernatural forces that inhabit the hotel, thus placing his wife and son in

danger.
The Shining was highly regarded by many viewers, but the film received numerous negative reviews as well (Hornbeck, p. 706). In James Hala’s survey on the reception of the film it revealed that, “popular reviewers ‘loved it,’ journals ‘defended’ it, and intellectual magazines ‘disliked it intensely’” (Manchel, p. 69). Furthermore, according to Norman Kagan, "a majority of the critics, although they found The Shining flawed, said they felt Kubrick must be praised for seeking to move beyond the horror genre" (Manchel, p. 67). In fact, The Golden Raspberry Awards (the Razzies), a mock award in recognition of the worst in film had nominated Shelley Duvall who plays Wendy Torrance was nominated for the 1981 Razzie Award for Worst Actress; and Stanley Kubrick was also nominated for a 1981 Razzie Award for Worst Director (Hornbeck, p. 707). The film was truly polarizing upon its release, but over time the film garnered immense recognition and today, has gained mass acclaim by audiences.
The film centers on the trauma and domestic violence in the family. The film structures the relationship in a way that the characters appear “alienated, in which their values are shallow, and in which an inability to discuss dehumanizes Jack, tyrannizes his family, and leads to his doom” (Manchel, 69). Before the move to the Overlook hotel the relationship between the family is unstable. Jack is abusive towards his family, both emotionally and physically. There is a visible disconnect between the characters, Jack is alone while Wendy and Danny share a much closer bond. Jack has a history of physical abuse against his son, he dislocated Danny’s shoulder. When talking to the doctor earlier in the film, Wendy had attempted to normalize his behaviour calling it an accident and blame it on Jack’s drunkenness removing responsibility and blame from Jack himself. As the family patriarch, Jack is confronted with his failure as a husband and father. At the hotel, the disconnect between Jack and his family become increasingly visible, and this only builds in resentment and increased anger towards his family furthering his isolation and alienation from his family. Wendy and Danny explore the hotel together, while Jack sleeps or work on his writing. His abuse towards his family deepens and is exacerbated by the isolation and the ghosts in the hotel. Jack is gradually possessed and influenced, by the evil spirits in the hotel driving him to a psychotic break and to kill his family with an axe (Hornbeck p. 692).
Wendy throughout the film is portrayed as subservient and victimized by Jack’s treatment of the family. Wendy, is an abused wife, “alternately frightened and in denial, victimized and empowered, impotent and resilient” (Hornbeck, p 691). After Danny is attacked and hurt in room 237, Wendy assumes her husband is guilty of the attack, her primary concern is turned to keeping her child safe. She stays by Danny’s side as Jack becomes more unhinged; it is telling that when she goes to speak to Jack that she brings a bat with her. She uses it to knock out Jack and lock him away until she can get help or escape with her son. As Jack escapes, he continues his attack on his film and Wendy is forced to fight for her and Danny’s survival. For Wendy, transformation is achieved through her escape from an abusive husband and from the threat of violent death (Hornbeck, p. 691). The Shining represents how the modern dysfunctional household can be destroyed by violence (Manchel, p. 68).
In the Amityville Horror and the Shining, it is evident that psychological terrors do not spare anyone when the household and the family break apart (Manchel, p.

69). The disintegration of the family has a tremendous impact on each individual as it pushes all members of the family to the brink. In the climax of each film, both George Lutz and Jack Torrance utilize axes to breakdown the bathroom doors in an attempt to get to their families. Both Kathy Lutz and Wendy Torrance, put the safety of their children before themselves in an attempt to defend themselves and deter the father from hurting the family. Kathy is successful whereas Wendy fails, and Danny must fend for himself. In each film we see the iconic scenes where in the Shining, blood gushes out of the elevator doors, in the Amityville horror, the walls and the stairs ooze with blood and George falls through the floor in a pool of blood. In the Amityville Horror, many scenes consist of people becoming sick, they are physically unable to walk, sweating and vomiting after being in the house. This sickness can be seen as a physical manifestation of the anxieties, and fear about change and the occupation of a new home and new opportunities and the desire to not ruin them. According to Barbara Creed, the horror film “abounds in images of abjection, foremost of which is the corpse, whole and mutilated, followed by an array of bodily wastes such as blood, vomit, saliva, sweat, tears and putrefying flesh” (p.10).

Historically, it has been the function of religion to purify the abject, this is evident in the Amityville Horror as the priest tries to bless the house but is overpowered and when the cross repeatedly is turned upside down and eventually thrown from the wall by an unseen force. Both films attempt to bring about a confrontation with the abject in order to eject the violence, abuse, and the supernatural and return the family to normal. According to Creed, the abject lays in the border between two opposing issues, the abject border in these films lay between the normal and the supernatural, good and evil, stability and instability in the family (Creed, p. 11).
The key difference in each film is the ending, in the Amityville Horror, the Lutz’s all escape the evil influence of the house and reunite as a family.

In contrast, the Torrance’s fall victims to the hotel, Jack dies and only Wendy and Danny manage to escape. In the Amityville Horror, the family escapes due to their strong relationship within each other. In the Shining, the tumultuous relationship and dysfunctional family dynamics already existed before the move to the Overlook hotel. It was only at the hotel that these tensions between the family was worsened and thus, this unstable foundation gave way to the oppressive nature and force of the Overlook hotel. The ending of each film is dependent on the pre-existing relationship of the family before their move into the house or the hotel. The relationship between George and Kathy and the children in the Amityville horror start off amicably and relatively good. The relationship is only deteriorated by the time spent in the house. The stability and strong foundation of their relationship allow the survival of the family. In contrast, the Torrance’s are introduced as an unstable couple, with a miserable family life. The foundation of their family is unstable and tumultuous, abusive and violent. This is only exacerbated by their move into the Overlook hotel. Thus, the lack of a strong relationship and connection in the Torrance family only lead to its disintegration by the end of the

film.
In conclusion, horror films utilize the nuclear family to demonstrate the impact and effect that societal change can have on individuals within the family. Both the Amityville Horror and the Shining reflect the effect of how ideas of societal change and social decay, combined with anxieties of the era can contribute to the decline and disintegration of the nuclear family. The endings of each film truly demonstrate how a healthy and stable relationship between the family is likely to help the family overcome any horror they face, be it domestic violence or abuse, or the ghosts and evil spirits which inhabit the house or the hotel. The more fulfilling these familial relationships the less likely it is for the disintegration of the family to occur. If the family is lucky they will escape the horror of the home together and if they are unlikely they may find themselves separated as a family or even worse dead.