Salems Lot and The Shining :: essays research papers

Stephen King sets up the perfect horror scene in room 217 by buliding off of Hitchcock and hos own previous work, Salem's Lot. King uses Hitchcock's definition of great horror to set for the scene in romm 217. He also uses background from his old work, Salems Lot. Alfred Hitchcock's idea of horror involves human suspense and teh realistic aspect of scary situations. Hitchcocks masterful directing leads the audience to be the frist to understand what is going on. The characters are left in the dark until the suspense reaches its climax. As the impending danger builds, the viewer is allowed to wtiness the situation before the character. This raises the level of suspense making it more realistic. Hitchcock takes normal situations and adds a terffiying twist. The twist is always something that has never happened, but is definetely possible. Hitchcocks The Birds is an excellent example of this. He takes normal situation with normal birds and turns them into killers. As the birds gather behind one unsuspecting victim, only the audience is allowed to see the impending danger. The woman is calm and collected as she waits on the bench. Hitchcock adds a little scare music and the woman suddenly realizes she is being watched. She whips around in horror a nd the birds are there ready to attack. This scfene is not a common occurance, but to an overactive imagination it could become a very real possibility. Kings early work Salems Lot helps to prove he has created the perfect horror scene in room 217. Salems lot was, at that time, a suspenseful story about vampires and things that lurk in the night. The plot was predictable, new guys come to town, vampires attack, suspcicious old man is accused. When King wrote Salems Lot his techniques for horror and suspense were still yound and under developed. The element of surprise was more evident than that of suspense. The writing of King matured greatly before he wrote The Shining. The scene in roo, 217 us a perfect horror scene as it takes a realistic situation and turns it frightening. As the beginning of the nover danny is warned by Hallorann not to enter room 217. The first step has been completed, the warning. The second step of building the action begins. Danny steals the passkey, but not only that as Jack has been having hallucinations along with Danny.