This film is very unsettling, even from the very start. Stanley Kubrick uses many different strategies to give off the unsettling and eerie mood that he desired for this film. The sounds, music, editing, and mise en scene all attribute to these feelings you get from the film.
The music used in the film gives off a certain dramatic and scary feeling even for the simplest of scenes. The screeching sounds in the opening scenes tell the viewer right away what kind of film they are watching even though the camera is just panning views of the mountains and such. The slow zooming in of characters also adds a suspenseful factor to this film through cinematography. Extreme close up shots of faces paired with scary music adds to the unsettling of the film that you can see and hear all throughout.
The mise en scene of this film is quite interesting because while its very open and large its oddly very quiet and remote so a lot of interactions between characters can go unseen by others, which plays into the unsettling theme in this film. Extreme long and wide shots of the Colorado mountains are particularly important in adding a scary dimension to the film because of the lack of civilians in those parts.
Lastly, Jack, the main character of the film comes off very disconnected to his family, especially when it’s just them interacting and no one else is around to observe. When there are others around, Jack seems to be acting like he’s more connected to his family then he really is so that he comes off as a standup guy. Jacks lack of emotion and how he always seems bothered with his family, gives off the feel that he’s a cold human being with a negative agenda, something we see expressed often from Jack.
Stefano Allegras blog 