Sometimes you just can’t not comment. A few weeks after Donald Sutherland—known by some of us for his horror roles—passed away, Shelley Duvall has died. It feels like the passing of an era for horror fans. I never saw Sutherland in MASH, although I’m sure he made a good Hawkeye. I did see him in Don’t Look Now, however, and An American Haunting. Shelley Duvall grasped her claim to fame in The Shining, of course. I can remember the apprehension that gripped me, after years of everyone telling me how scary it was, when I first saw it. The Shining has its detractors, of course, but it remains one of my favorites. That’s in no small measure due to Duvall’s portrayal of Wendy.
Duvall did other things, of course. Since I tend to fixate on the things I like, I never followed her further career, but I did see her now and again. She was in Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie. For those looking forward to The Myth of Sleepy Hollow (I know I am), she’ll appear as the creator of Tall Tales & Legends. She also created Nightmare Classics, which I have to admit to never having seen. Although she was involved in other genres, she seemed to have a real interest in horror. She retired from acting early in the millennium, but came out for one final film, last year. It was the horror movie The Forest Hills. Horror gets its hooks into you, I know. But it keeps coming back to The Shining.
In part it’s the claustrophobia of three people, only three, in an isolated hotel. Of course it’s haunted as well, but the isolation premise alone is frightening. Especially when one of the three (or maybe two) is becoming unhinged. We live in an era of remakes and it’s possible someone will be foolhardy enough to try to remake Kubrick’s classic. Even if it were a more faithful adaptation (Stephen King’s book is scary in its own right) it’s difficult to imagine that it could be better. Part of it probably has to do with how Kubrick’s treatment of Duvall pushed her to the edge. Fame has its cost. And I suppose (since I wouldn’t know) that fame in a horror role comes with its own burdens. Duvall went on to create things of her own. More’s the pity that they’re not easily found either for streaming or on disc. And things seem just a little bit quieter now, don’t they?
