Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Jack borrows the cheerful sign-on of late-night television and uses it as a battering ram, and the clash between the chat-show grin and the axe is what makes the moment so chilling. It is the film's most imitated image: The Simpsons, Breaking Bad, Psych and It Chapter Two have all had someone shove a face through a door and shout it, and it stuck so firmly that many viewers now hear it first as a horror line and only second as Johnny Carson's.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The ShiningShow the scene
Late in The Shining (1980), Jack Torrance has been let out of the Overlook's pantry by the ghost of Delbert Grady and goes hunting his wife and son with an axe. Danny escapes through the bathroom window, but Wendy is trapped inside it, and Jack hacks through the door, chants the Three Little Pigs threat, and shoves his face through the gap with this shout. The line is Ed McMahon's Tonight Show introduction for Johnny Carson, and Jack Nicholson improvised it. Kubrick, living in England, did not recognise the reference and nearly used another take. Nicholson, a former volunteer fire marshal, also splintered the door faster than planned.
Sources (3)
- Wikipedia: The Shining (film)Production section on the bathroom door scene; Plot sectionReference checked
- Wikiquote: The Shining (film)Dialogue section, axe-attack sceneReference checked
- Wikipedia: Here's JohnnyDisambiguation listReference checked
Context reviewed
