When carpet patterns add to film experiences

Ever noticed how a jarring carpet pattern can leave you with an impression? Think about the strangest carpet you’ve seen. Did it’s pattern hurt the eyes or make you see shapes in it? One of the most intriguing uses of carpet is in the film The Shining. This seminal ninety seventies horror directed by Stanley Kubrick still has the power to shock and horrify to this day. It features the tale of a man slowly driven mad by spirits in a remote hotel called the Overlook. As the winter months set in the family cannot leave and the loneliness and isolation start to affect them.

One of its most iconic scares features its use of the hotel’s carpet. Not that they would want to go to the Overlook Hotel in the winter time even a Carpet Cleaner Hereford based operation such as http://octokleen.co.uk/cleaning-services/carpet-cleaning/carpet-cleaning-hereford/ would think twice and they can tackle anything. The carpet features an interlocking orange brown and red that is slightly hard on the eye. It gives menace whilst being passive. It runs throughout the hotel. If people were walking on it then it would not be so noticeable but the absence of people seems to emphasize its jarring nature.

The pattern used in the film has been repeated as a homage by many directors afterward. A scaled down version is seen in Toy Story, a very different film and it is subtly employed as a rug, albeit in blue and white as used by Dani (the same name as Danny in the Shining),  in the film Midsommar.