‘Weird’ New Jack Nicholson Details From ‘The Shining’ Surfaces That ‘Nobody Noticed Before’

This Stanley Kubrick classic The Shining from the ‘80s has been a Halloween must-watch for decades. The Shining is rightly considered one of the most iconic horror films of all time, featuring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall as a couple alongside other prominent actors.

The film has been so successful that it is often referenced in books and documentaries, with movie theorists analyzing each scene to share ideas and point out hidden references. Recently, a Kubrick author and essayist, Filippo Ulivieri, took to X—formerly Twitter—to share a never-seen-before discovery from the movie.

Ulivieri shares new findings

In a lengthy thread shared earlier this year, Ulivieri detailed what he had observed, “I’ve noticed something odd happening in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. True, there’s plenty of odd things going on in The Shining, but this is really weird.” He also noted he was certain no one else had seen the “weird thing” before him as there was “no article, no video, nothing” pointing it out.

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“I don’t think anyone has ever noticed it before, because I cannot find anything about it,” he wrote. He then revealed that Nicholson’s character, Jack Torrance, looked directly down at the camera many times. “I am talking about all the times in which Jack Torrance looks at the camera, but there’s no one to look at,” Ulivieri emphasized.

What inspired Nicholson’s weird looks?

Nicholson looked at the camera from the start of The Shining to its chilling end, although in a subtle way, which explains why it has never sparked any questions till now. Ulivieri’s claim is backed up with a clip from the documentary Making the Shining, where Kubrick asks Nicholson to glance directly at his camera just before axing the door down.

It is possible that the act was intended to unnerve the audience without being too obvious. The camera could have represented a ghost from the Overlook Hotel, which Torrance discovered early on. Fans of the show were impressed and praised Ulivieri in the comments with remarks like “brilliant,” “fantastic,” and “fascinating”