THE RETURN OF THE CAVALRY

This sequence is cut short by Halloran literally arriving to save the day : however, as we cut back to Jack trying to devise a way to enter the bathroom we see the most obvious of the films continuity errors - the second door panel has been smashed in. However, as earlier suggested, this may be another attempt to reinforce the imagery of mirrored and symmetry within the film. For the viewer not aware of the importance of the mirror imagery of the picture though, this is a error of glaring proportions.

Further breaking with the established conventions of film, Kubrick brings Halloran back into the action at this point : the feared �nigger cook�, armed with his gift of The Shining has returned. He does not know what he is about to face - it could a pile of corpses - or Jack Torrance leaping out of the darkness with an axe.

This is a disturbance of established convention : having endured many trials to arrive at the hotel, Halloran, who presumably will save the day, is dispatched quickly and mercilessly by the White Demon with an axe. It is this event that works on two levels : firstly, the subtext of the White Man vs. The Red Indian is made explictly clear, and secondly the convention of cinema has been violently broken. There will be no happy endings in this film.

And Jack here, regressing further into himself, smiles and grins like a child whose done a bad thing, but is secretly proud of it. And Jack here, at this stage, has transgressed the bounds of reason. Previously he might have been able - if the Overlook had let him - walk away from the situation. Torn between his responsibilities to The Overlook, and his duties as a human being, Jack has gone beyond reason. But with this murder, he has reached the point of no return. The Overlook has claimed him.

Here then, with Jack having done his work as Caretaker and dispatching the cook, the Overlook decides it is also time to explicitly target Wendy, who has previously shown slight tendancies for The Shining, as well as being closest to Danny. Jack goes after Danny, and the hotel goes after Wendy through a set of psychological warfare : like Danny, Wendy has a ability to tune into the hotels influence, and whilst it is only a limited ability, the Overlook does its best to assault her by presenting her with things that may not be real, but seem it : it has already splintered Jack into a tool of its own making, and shown Danny as it will Wendy, glimpses from it�s past - the Grady Twins -, its present , and its future - the sea of blood gushing forth from the Elevator, which may have been an element in the ending of the original screenplay, where Jack, Wendy and Danny are seen as ghosts haunting the hotel as as the next caretaker is given a tour of the hotel the following winter.