Kubrick stare

The Kubrick stare is a directorial technique used to portray insane or unstable characters in film.^[2]

In a Kubrick stare, an actor looks out from under the brow line and tilts their head towards the camera.^[3] The actor may smile in sinister fashion or look directly into the camera, which can create the illusion that the actor is looking past the camera and directly at the audience.^[4] Directors use the stare to convey that a character has become dangerously mentally unstable, and often to foreshadow something "intense".^[1]

Deemed "one of cinema's most recognizable shots" by The Daily Telegraph,^[5] the technique is named after Stanley Kubrick, who often used it, but it has also been used by other directors before and since.^[5]