The horror movie Alexandre Aja calls the “most traumatic experience”
Ever since he broke out with the ferocious, shockingly gory horror flick Switchblade Romance, which remains an iconic (if divisive) work of French New Extremity cinema, French horror maestro Alexandre Aja has firmly established himself as one of the most prolific and successful horror filmmakers of the 21st century.
While Aja has been involved in some weaker films – most notably, 2010’s regrettable Piranha 3D – he always brings his A-game whenever he’s behind the camera. Bringing visceral intensity, punchy visuals, pitch-black humour and, of course, buckets of fake gore to every one of his projects, Aja is always one of the biggest assets to any film he takes on.
His last two projects – Crawl, one of the all-time best aquatic monster movies and Oxygen, which saw him successfully deviate from his horror roots and take on a claustrophobic sci-fi thriller – have been career highlights, and they suggest that the best might be yet to come for the Paris-born filmmaker.
Aja’s relationship with horror, as it turns out, began when he was only seven. He accidentally watched Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and described it as “the most traumatic experience”. That certainly isn’t surprising, for The Shining is easily one of the most terrifying movies ever made. There is perhaps no other film that has realised insanity on-screen in such a nightmarish manner, and it is a work that terrifies most adult viewers. It’s hard to even imagine how much it would’ve frightened a child of seven.
However, trauma has subsequently turned to outright adoration, and he named it as his all-time favourite horror film. It’s a movie that he can watch again and again, and he describes himself as being “obsessed with every shot that they cut, every bit of dialogue, every emotion”.
Aja also says that he believes that his first experience with The Shining is one of the reasons why he became a director of horror. Indeed, one can see The Shining‘s influence on his films, with their dark themes and intense, powerful visuals.
All in all, this is a reminder of just how influential Kubrick’s work remains to directors in every genre and to the enduring power of The Shining itself. It might have been hated by source material author Stephen King, and it might’ve only got mixed reviews at the time, but in the end, it has gained the horror classic status it deserves.
