The Shining = House of Leaves

Mental Floss posted a great series of videos exploring the spatial impossibilities that riddle the film sets for The Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick's classic horror movie The Shining.  While watching, I couldn't help but think about Mark Danielewski's horror novel House of Leaves, which chronicles a family's life inside of a house that is larger on the inside than on the outside.

While the disorienting effect is much more subtle in The Shining, the device used by Kubrick and Danielewski is the same.  I wonder what it is about these spatial violations that is so unsettling.

Upon closer comparison I also notice that these impossible buildings aren't the only plot devices shared by The Shining and House of Leaves.  Other elements the two stories have in common are:

• mazes
• an isolated nuclear family 
• nonsensical manifestos
• a protagonist who slowly but inevitably descends into madness.

It seems that Kubrick and Danielewski were plumbing the same depths, so to speak.

Part 1

Part 2

I highly recommend both the movie and book.  I can't comment on Stephen King's original novel, never having read it, but I'm sure it's very enjoyable if you're into that sort of thing (personally I can't seem to get into King's stuff—too dark even for me).

As a bonus, here is the climactic river-of-blood scene from The Shining.  I've only seen this movie once, and it definitely got under my skin, but this 30 seconds of film is forever burned into my memory for reasons I don't completely understand.

Of course I don't want to leave you with that in your brain, so here's the cleverly edited trailer for Shining, which made its way around the internets a while back, and proves that Peter Gabriel can suck the scary out of anything.

---

(Untitled Fragment)

Little solace comes
to those who grieve
when thoughts keep drifting
as walls keep shifting
and this great blue world of ours
seems a house of leaves 

moments before the wind.

Cover Art [HP WEEK]

Growing up with the Harry Potter books in the United States meant growing up with the beautiful cover art of Mary GrandPre, who created the distinctive imagery of the American editions.

I honestly love these covers.  I think they do an amazing job of illustrating both the narrative and the atmosphere of each volume.  Sorcerer's Stone is bright, whimsical; Goblet of Fire is subdued, a little more adult; Order of the Phoenix is dark, sinister; Deathly Hallows is perhaps the most simple of all, yet dramatic and sincere.

I can't help but feel partial to GrandPre's Harry Potter covers, but I've enjoyed digging up cover art for the many, many international editions.  I think it's fascinating to see the artwork that other young Potter fans grew up with, and know that they are probably as fiercely loyal to their own book covers as I am to mine (except for the poor, poor children of Iceland).

(In most cases I didn't include artwork for all seven volumes in the series, but I tried to select covers that convey each publisher's overall style.)

See images after the jump.

TRAILER: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This came out a couple of weeks ago. It's the trailer for director David Fincher's film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I think it's possibly one of the best movie trailers I've ever seen.

Being a huge fan of the novel (first in the Millennium trilogy), I've been anxiously awaiting a preview for the American remake—which comes on the heels of the successful (and highly enjoyable) Swedish adaptation trilogy. I have no idea what it's like to watch this if you didn't spend a month of your recent life devouring Stieg Larsson's 1,500 page masterpiece on the New York City subway, as I did (although I'm not the only one). All I can say is that I'm terribly impressed by what I see here. Every time I watch this I catch something I didn't notice before. It's a testament to the book's lasting impact (and to the film's apparent fidelity) that one can immediately recognize scenes, locales, and characters from the vivid snapshots that strobe over Trent Reznor and Karen O's insane cover of Immigrant Song.

I'm obviously reserving judgment on the actual movie. The thematic centerpiece of Tattoo, and really of the whole trilogy, is a very frank discussion about violence against women—of the invisibility of crimes like abduction and rape. In fact, the book's original Swedish title is Män som hatar kvinnor, which roughly translates to "men who hate women." I'm not convinced that an American audience will necessarily flock to the theaters to see a "rape movie." And I'm not convinced that Hollywood is willing to sacrifice what might be a guaranteed tentpole flick in order to make a less profitable, but more honest, movie.

That said, if ever there was an American director up to the task, it's David Fincher, who isn't exactly known for shying away from the violent and disturbing. (He made this movie. Oh yeah, and this one.) The fact that the trailer has already dubbed Tattoo the "feel bad movie of Christmas" bodes well (I guess?).

I hope you consider reading Stieg Larsson's books. They're quite good. Buy the first one here, and try to read it before Christmas!