By Avi Polczynski
Two years ago on CinemaBlend, Kristy Puchko posted an interview with Stephen King who stated bluntly that he did not like “The Shining” when it was screened and has never seen the movie completely. In fact, this was not the first time King has stated he downright hates the movie directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Kubrick’s “The Shining” has its charms, and is indeed one of the most popular Stephen King book-to-movie productions. Despite this, King hates the movie’s final product that went out to theaters in 1980. King’s problem is with not only casting but how Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, goes from normal to insane in the book but is insane from the moment the audience meets him.
The movie’s plot is about a man named Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall and his son Danny, acted by Danny Lloyd. Dick Hollorann, portrayed by Scatman Crothers, works at the Overlook Hotel as head chef, where Jack is going to look over the hotel and work on his next novel in the meantime.
Wendy, along with Danny, go with him so she can look after Danny and still spend time with her family as a whole unit. The pay is good if you can look after the empty hotel and they need the money. It becomes a solid plan, so all members of their small family go.
Introduced in the beginning is a tour of the hotel, but because Danny is rather young, he stays with Hollorann so his parents can know the layout of their winter home. Hollorann talks about this ability called the shining, which can involve mental communication without talking out loud and being able to be clairvoyant. With a warning to Danny on its danger, he leaves.
Meanwhile, the movie progresses with one warning: do not enter room 237. Both Jack and Danny go into the room, see horrible visions, and leave it alone after, but the rule is naturally broken. In most scenes, Danny sees strange visions of death or horrible spirits in the hotel or Jack’s in the bar talking to the bartender—when the room is empty.
Perhaps most notably is the change in Danny, not his father, when his father goes wildly mad. Danny has an imaginary friend Tony who causes problems, and the infamous Redrum scene where Jack breaks open the bathroom door with an ax would also be notable.
So while father and son are visibly affected by something awful—Danny gets taken over by Tony and Jack goes mad because the hotel does that to its caretakers—inevitably kills Jack while his wife and son escape with their lives. While the plot is there, the acting is not.
Most of the time, Shelley Duvall either screams or freaks out about everything, being protective of Danny first and foremost but with a tendency to panic too much to be useful. Jack tries to write and goes mad instead, while Danny appears to get possessed.
Everything goes from fine to terrible rather quickly, such as the twins Danny runs into who you later see died a horrific death. The jump scares are perhaps a bit too much to handle at times, and can be overwhelming. In addition, the movie follows tropes of your typical horror film, making it cliche in the long run.
This movie could have been created much differently, and despite its success, it is more popular for “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy,” the scene with Danny shouting Redrum or Jack bursting into the hotel bathroom by destroying it with an ax—while his wife screams. While not top notch, it is not the worst movie created, but it comes close.
The trailer can be found here.
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