THE SHINING How did Jack escape the store room - 5 theories, you decide

still to this day I get lots of emails asking  about various aspects of the shining people are   fascinated with this movie the most frequent  question I've been getting asked these days   is how did Jack escape from the storeroom well  it's understandable because it's actually not a   simple matter let's start with the basics theory  number one is the obvious watch in the movie we're   allowed to assume that the ghosts Delbert Grady  unlocked the door and let Jack out he's talking   to Delbert through the door we can hear Talbots  voice and we can hear the sound of the door   apparently being unlocked at the end of the scene  and then we cut away and next thing we know jack   is freely limping about on an axe murder rampage  question answered case closed right maybe there   are actually several possibilities of how Jack  got out the store that don't involve supernatural   events and some of these you'll probably kick  yourself wondering why didn't I think about or   why didn't I notice that however Kubrick does as  usual thing of complicating the issue so that we   have to think about it and observe first though  let me offer some Stanley Kubrick quotes that are   relevant during interviews about the film he made  various conflicting comments about whether there   is or isn't something supernatural going on in  the overlock hotel he told interviewer John Hoff   says quote it's just a story of one man's family  quietly go and get sane together and quote that   comes off like a statement that all of the ghost  visions are just in the characters imaginations   but he also told Michael Simmons quote I think the  unconscious appeal of a ghost story lies in its   promise of immortality if you can be frightened by  a ghost story then you must accept the possibility   that supernatural beings exist if they do then  there is more than just oblivion waiting beyond   the grave and quote that comes after me as a  strong indication the Kubrick was an atheist and   that he didn't buy into the supernatural stuff  that the film appears to promote or present he   also didn't have any instances in his film version  of The Shining in which objects appear to move by   themselves whether by living human telekinesis  or by ghosts movin things about even though the   novel and the faithful to the novel TV version  of The Shining are both full of these telekinesis   incidents there is the issue of objects moving  about and disappearing and reappearing between   shots and Kubrick's version which I believe  he did deliberately to play on the audience   subconsciously but a lot of folks would just  pass those off as continuity errors but still   the point is there's no over to telekinesis in  this film Kubrick also told Michael Simmons when   asked about the shining novel quote it's not  until Grady the ghost of the former caretaker   who acts to death his family slides open the both  of the larder door allowing Jack to escape that   you are left with no other explanation bought  at the supernatural end quote and from that   statement were allowed to assume that this  is precisely the case in the movie as well   it does also appear to be the case that every  supposedly supernatural event in the movie can   be thought of as just hallucinations aside from  the opening of the storeroom door there is the   issue of Jack's photo in the Gold Room picture at  the end which wasn't in the novel but that's part   of a political theme about the gold standard  see my video Kubrick's gold story for a lot of   detail on that including very strong supporting  evidence that I found that the Kubrick archives   supporting the idea that ghosts in this movie  are basically just hallucinations film critic   Roger Ebert took off his blindfolds for once and  pointed out that whenever Jack encounters a ghost   in this movie there's usually a mirror presence in  the background suggesting that Jack is talking to   himself the bartender Grady in the bathroom here  and the room 237 hag these moments all involve the   presence of mirrors but hang on when Grady talks  to him in the store there's no mirror present well   actually there is the door that Jack is facing is  a featureless metallic surface the opposite side   of the door has blocky patterns and the walk-in  freezer door has the same patterns on both sides   only this specific door has a flat featureless  surface creating a fuzzy mirror reflection which   Jack is facing as he apparently hears Grady's  voice this is a strong indication that Jack   was talking to himself again in fact if you look  closely at this side of the door it appears that   some metallic paper or something has been pasted  onto it to get the flat mirror look the vertical   etch ings seen on the outside are still very  faintly visible on this surface something else   notable here is that there's a lack of visual  detail in favor of the idea that a ghost let   Jack out we don't see the door open and we don't  see a change in the lighting of Jack's face that   would occur if the door were opened off-screen  we just have the sound of the unlocking to go   by so the scene is played as if he's imagining the  sound hearing voices in his head and he's holding   his saw head as he does this all right so let's  have a look at the door mechanism itself because   things start to get interesting here the exterior  of this door room has two industrial-strength   locks the upper one just looks like a standard  sliding bolt lock but it's a hefty one and the   bottom one I don't know what it's called but it  has a loose bolt on a chain that gets inserted   vertically to lock the door or pulled out some  one lock it it's an unusual lock design and so   Wendy initially is confused about how to open the  damn thing she also has trouble with the bathroom   door lock here why is she a complete dunce  when it comes to locking and unlocking doors it's also fully that a door to a basic food  store room looks like something strong enough   to be found in Fort Knox but I guess that this  metal monster of a door emphasizes that there's   no way mr. Torrence is gonna kick in or barges  where he threw this door on the inside of the   door there's a second interesting feature in  addition to the fact that it's basically a   featureless fuzzy mirror for Jack to talk to his  own reflection there's a really unusual protruding   door handle I don't think I've ever seen one  of these anywhere and it seems Kubrick wanted   us to pay attention to this this handle jarringly  protrudes into the shot of Jack tryna talk his way   out and he has his hand on this handle for most of  the shot playing with his knob so to speak and he   keeps looking at the handle Kubrick seems to want  us to pay attention to this weird handle this is   almost certainly a safety release handle of some  sort if you get locked in the room just turn it   or push it and it will open the door mechanism  even if the doors been locked from outside makes   sense doesn't it the walk-in freezer room would  definitely need an internal safety release and we   can see the same kind of long knob on a stick  handle is in there too if that's not a safety   release than any one locking themselves in with  freeze to death fairly quickly basic health and   safety normally a safety door that needs to be  unlockable from one side without a key would   have a long horizontal push bar that's called  a crash bar and we can actually see in some of   these shots that a fire axis in this kitchen  has a standard crash bar so given this as a   constructed set Kubrick and his crew have opted  for a very unusual looking safety lock device on   these big doors I've done some online searching  and have found no other examples of these kinds   of door handles so when I got onto this safety  handle issue I thought hey maybe Wendy doesn't   realize that jack doesn't even need a key to  get out he can just use the release handle and   maybe Jack fiddling with it and staring at this  lock is because he knows very well that as soon   as Wendy runs off he can just let himself out  however we do see later that Jack had slept in   this storeroom for a while before he is out and  the notion of a safety release on the inside of   the store is contradicted by the existence of the  sliding balls on the outside that's the Opel eye   I'm not a locksmith but as far as I can tell  there's no way to open this sliding bolt from   inside I thought that maybe Wendy had forgot to  lock the sliding bolt but we can see here that   she has put it in the locked position why this  door needs to industrial-strength locks I don't   know the other doors of a similar type only half  the warm lock so maybe mr. Roman had half a dozen   crates of caviar or some gold bar stashed away in  this storeroom I suppose Kubrick had identified   the plot hole in the novel the fact that such a  door would have an internal safety release I mean   you don't want to have a whole family staying in  this hotel over winter and have one of them locked   themselves in the storeroom and die so Kubrick  has worked his way around it by unrealistically   adding the sliding bolt second lock so this takes  us back to the supernatural explanation doesn't   it well not quite there are several more ways  that Jack could have got out of this room so   theory number two this involves a little bit of  reverse blueprints engineering of the set layout   there's some weird stuff going on with the three  similar doors that are shown here the one closest   to us on the left is only about six or eight feet  from the very corner where these characters turn   and then go into the storeroom but the inside  of the storeroom is at least 15 feet squared in other words this exterior door can only lead  into one place the same storeroom where Jack got   locked in but we can't sell from the inside  if there's a second door because they're a   big storage units full of boxes against that wall  however in this shot some of that wall is visible   it's a bit dark but we can see that there's a  vertical dark stripe area which might be the   second door that we saw from outside and so it's  possible that after having a hallucinatory chat   with his imaginary friend mr. Grady Jack noticed  this hidden door and he opens it and gets out   it's plausible the door certainly can't lead  anywhere except into this storeroom there is a   contradictory shot though after jack has chopped  away at the doors of the Torrence apartment he's   then seen backtracking his way through the kitchen  and the front door to the storeroom is shown and   it's open isn't it we had the Kubrick chose to  show Jack right back here again it's like he's   deliberately showing us the storeroom again and  saying look everyone the locked door is open at   the same time he might be showing us a size  comparison of the storeroom and the hallway   next to it where the second door is a fair the  hint that the storeroom has two doors a one of   the detail the PAP supports this second storeroom  door interpretation is that as Wendy first enters   the kitchen a big door in the back has the words  fire exit must be kept clear in huge letters white   on black big enough to be read hundreds of yards  away the hotel is full of written signs usually   very small ones but nothing comes close to the  size of these letters and the funny thing is that   despite the size of the words and the keep clear  instruction these words are partially covered the   door is partially covered by kitchen equipment  just like the second door in the storeroom is   covered by units full of food the exterior maze  also parallels this issue of there being a hidden   side door in the early shots the entrance is at  the side and we can see that the map proper is   right in front of it and there's some trees there  and at the end of the movie the entrance has moved   positions and is facing the hotel where if  the trees gone where has the map maze gone   or alternatively there are actually two entrances  to this maze and the map of the maze shows a side   entrance but the possible presence of a front  entrance is obscured so that we can even see if   there's one there sneaky Kubrick with the details  okay so here's theory number three this isn't one   of my own theories but I read it online and I  thought it was interest enough to include here   it's possible that the shining supernatural power  runs in the taurons family so that both Danny and   his father have it this alternate theory posits  that Jack was able to use telepathy to open the   storeroom door himself personally I don't really  find this one convincing because at no point to   Halloran or Danny openly demonstrates an ability  to telepathically move objects it's a nice idea   though go check out Johnny 53's writing on the  shining for more on that theory maybe you'll   find it more convincing than I do once a theory  number four and this is another quite simple one   we don't actually know where Jack gets the axe  from so maybe there was one in the storeroom we   see very little of the back wall and so it could  have been on there on the wall in the glass case   or something if Jack found an axe in this very  storeroom there maybe he managed to chop away at   the door frame and let himself out again though  this particular camera view doesn't support the   idea because there doesn't appear to be any damage  to the frame it's a possibility though and on to   my final theory theory number five which is that  little Danny the liberal he went into the kitchen   and unlocked the door so the jack could get out  now you may think what the [ __ ] but hear me out   first when he is asleep and Danny is wandering  around he grabs a knife he writes read room on   the door and then he shouts waking Wendy up he's  anticipating the fact that his father is on his   way to kill them and he's warning hair it's  possible that just before their son while she   was asleep Danny had snuck into the kitchen  and unlocked the door to let Jack out Jack   was also asleep for a while so Danny could have  unlocked it while both his parents were asleep   also interesting is that when jack is locked  in by wendy a box of Frosty's breakfast cereal   is positioned so the tony the tiger appears to  be watching the argument between wendy and jack   remember that danny has an imaginary friend called  tony so maybe he can use his supernatural vision   to see this argument or maybe danny has actually  in the kitchen somewhere observe him what's going   on it's just so weird that that Tony the Tiger is  thrown into this shot however Jack appears to try   and use the release handle here just right  before he talks to Grady and it seems that   the door is still locked so if Danny unlock  this door then maybe it was right when Jack   was talking to Delbert Grady his in an imaginary  voice form but the big question there why would   Danny let jack out well quite possibly so that  he could intentionally lead as psycho father   into the maze and trap him so that he freezes to  death Jack has been an abusive father since well   before they even came to the Overlook and this  is Danny's opportunity to kill him and do away   with him once and for all here we can see that  he deliberately stands out in the open so there   his dad can see him and then he lets himself be  seen running into the maze the fact that he knows   the maze off by heart even on a dark winter night  suggests that Danny has spent some time memorizing   the layout of the maze in advance possibly because  he anticipated well in advance that his dad would   go nuts and in this moment it was very unlikely  that Jack would think to look for Danny inside a   small cabinet in this Hall but Danny gets out and  runs away letting himself be seen then he also has   a bit of an obsession with watching Road Runner  cartoons what does Roadrunner do he taunts the   coyote into giving chase and then outsmarts him  leading the coyote into some sort of trap like   fallin off a cliff or blowing himself up whatever  and this is what Danny does when he traps jack in   the maze he's got a very well-thought-out plan  and his backtracking through his own footsteps   that was a little stroke of genius for a kid to do  I mean most adults wouldn't think to do that there   is a little weird possibility that ties in with  this interpretation the maze itself is a symbolic   representation of the hotel it's not present in  the exterior shots at the beginning I've never   heard of a maze that has lights everywhere inside  the maze layout alters all over the place see my   video on spatial anomalies for more about that  and the maze has an exit that changes places like   I said earlier well not only do the maze and the  storeroom have a front and side exit the walk-in   freezer in the kitchen also has two doors here  they walk in a door on one side of the hall not   the position of the glass windows but when they  go into the room the door flips open the wrong   way and when they come out they've emerged from  a door opposite from the one that they supposedly   went in note the position of the glass windows  again so if like the changing maze Danny was   aware of this freezer double door then perhaps  Danny let himself get chased into the walk-in   freezer then he used the second door to escape  and then locked both doors from outside trapping   Jack inside so that his abusive father freezes to  death and so what we see with the maze chase is   just a surrealist representation of Danny locking  Jack in the freezer there is the issue of safety   release handles on the these two doors but I don't  know if those releases would bypass the vertical   chain bolts on the outer side of the box now this  theory sounds very elaborate doesn't it and it is   I'm not totally convinced of it but Danny leaves a  trail of footprints in the maze for dad to follow   and thus gets entrapped and as Danny and Wendy is  shown around the maze-like kitchen in a spaghetti   path that makes no sense Wendy says yeah this  whole place is such an enormous maze I feel   like I'll have to leave a trail of breadcrumbs  every type of career breadcrumbs footprints very   interesting parallel the layouts of the where tops  and tables in this kitchen also changed between   scenes just like the layouts of the maze dos these  could be hints that Danny left jack house at the   storeroom and eventually let dad chase him through  the kitchen and into the walk-in freezer and they   locked him in and here's another weird parallel  the film was shot in England and huge amounts of   salt would delivered in bags to be used as snow in  the exterior shots that's right this is all salt   amazin isn't it well just as Jack has seen frozen  in the snow in the maze at the end here he is   seen sleeping on big sacks of Holly salt like he's  already trapped in the snow it's just such a weird   film the last couple of strange things that might  link him with these dumbledore trail of footprints   examples when Danny approaches and tries to enter  the locked room 237 a door behind him and across   the hall is mysteriously open as if someone might  be watching him and could go in for a surprise   strangle attack and an email correspondent Drew to  my attention that when Jack has his encounter with   the bathroom hag he leaves the room and locks hair  in in silhouetted form Jack then carefully steps   backwards along the hall like Danny stepping  backwards in his own footprints in the snow so   that he could trap his psycho dad so there you  have it folks five possibilities as to how Jack   got out the story number one ghosts let him out  number two he escaped through the hidden side   door number three he used hella Kinesis to unlock  the main door then before he chopped his way out   with the axe and number five Danny led him out  three of these five possibilities involved non   supernatural events which would in turn lead  directly to the possibility that there are no   ghosts in the Overlook Hotel at all everything  is just symbolic hallucinations relating to this   family who were already very troubled before they  came to this hotel personally I find some of these   storeroom theories more convincing than others  I'm not completely sold on any of them so I'm   gonna hand it over to you and let you make your  own mind up I've done a lot of detective ground   we're here but maybe you can find some clues that  I missed if you do I'd love to hear them in the   comment section before I finish I'm going to do  a bit of shameless advertising at the time of   me posting this video I have 10 digital download  discount sets available on my website ranging from   50 to 80 percent off and the couple of them are  kubrick analysis compilations these downloadable   sets will be available over the Christmas 2019  period until new year 2020 so be sure to grab the   ones you want before the sale ends the link to  my order page is in the video description below   now if you don't mind I'm gonna go sneak out the  side door while no one's looking here's Robbie

Channel: Collative Learning

Views: 815,152

Keywords: the shining, store room, jack, escape, film analysis, rob ager, the shining store room, the shining theories, the shining how did jack escape, the shining film analysis, the shining room 237, collative learning the shining

Id: aSq9yF-Yh9s

Length: 21min 24sec (1284 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 14 2019