THE THOUSAND YARD STARE

The next shot sees Jack staring, frozen in the ice. Whilst this scene again seems to have a �shock factor� and seems to rely on a crass shock pay-off of cheap horror, repeated viewings show that Jack is simply acting out the thousand yard stare seen on numerous occasions earlier in the film. The thousand yard stare being a description of the distant, unfixed gaze of shellshocked Vietnam veterans who have seen too much of the darkness and cruelty at the heart of existence. Jack too has seen the darker recesses of existence, and too has that shellshocked look having realised that having failed to fulfill the hotels only request, has broken his contract with the hotel, the one he held so dear just a few hours earlier as sacred and binding, and therefore, as he warned in his argument with Wendy, has had his future, his career - and his very life - taken from him.

�Has it ever occurred to you what would happen if I failed to live up to my responsibilities?� He asks.

If The Caretaker cannot take care of The Overlook, The Overlook takes care of him.