Being that I am in the middle of a snowmageddon I thought it would be an ideal time to give The SHiNiNG another watch.
This time around a scene that stuck out to me was the infamous "Here's Johnny" scene.
Prior to "Here's Johnny" Danny while in a trance (Tony mode) grabs a knife to prepare for Jack's arrival and writes REDRUM on the bathroom door which reflected in the mirror spells MURDER.
The door that REDRUM is written on is what caught my eye this time around. As seen below the door has an obvious inverted cross design on it.
What also makes this interesting is that "REDRUM" is "MURDER" spelled backwards and it is written on an upside down or backwards cross or crucifix.
Maybe I am the only one but when I hear Red Rum I think of red wine. One of Jesus's miracles was turning water into wine. If you invert the cross it becomes an anti-religious symbol and RED RUM backwards is Murder which is self explanatorily anti-religious.
As silly as it sounds we have a Holy door that reflected in a mirror becomes an unholy door. As with all things SHiNiNG we are brought back to doubles and reflections.
When Jack chops through the REDRUM door with the axe he does so almost with a surgical grace removing the right top panel away. In doing this he appears to be removing negative space from the inverted crucifix design making it more noticeable.
When he puts his hand through this space to unlock the door Wendy cuts him with the knife she got from Danny. Jack can't unlock the door for fear of Wendy cutting him again and so he goes back to chopping at the door with the axe. Again with surgical precision he hacks out the top left panel of the door removing more negative space from the door and revealing even more of the crucifix.
The top panels when removed from the door by Jack's axe look oddly enough like the elevator design and the Gemini symbol representing the murdered twins.
I can't find a good image of the door with both panels hacked out but if anyone does please post it.
Could this door represent good and evil in a religious sense?
Could it represent the duality of man?
Or is it just a bloody door?