The Shining (1980): Stephen King may have hated Stanley Kubrick’s film version of his famous novel, but it’s still a horror masterpiece

Chad’s Grade: A-

It’s common knowledge among cinephiles that famed author Stephen King hated Stanley Kubrick’s film version of his 1977 horror novel The Shining. Hell, it’s even a plot point in Steven Spielberg’s 2018 cyberpunk adventure Ready Player One, leading to that film’s most exciting sequence set in a recreation of the gothic Overlook Hotel. If you’ve read King’s magnum opus, one can see why he was frustrated, as the book was a deeply personal work for the author. And the film does take liberties with several essential plot elements, even if it keeps the basic story outline intact.

Over the years, King has reluctantly admitted that the filmmaking craft of Kubrick was exceptional even if it does warp the novel’s narrative. And make no mistake, The Shining is one of those great horror films that has pierced the pop culture landscape with phrases like the crazed “Here’s Johnny,” “redrum” (flash that word in a mirror), and the mysterious “Room 237,” which is also the name of a fascinating 2012 documentary on not only the 1980 movie but the many urban legends surrounding that room number.

The film’s basic plot (and the source of King’s wrath) revolves around Jack Torrance being hired as a caretaker for the Overlook Hotel during winter when the large resort is closed. Jack, a recovering alcoholic, along with his wife Wendy and young son Danny, hole up in the imposing structure, where Jack hopes to use the quiet downtime to write his first novel. Unknown to either of his parents, young Danny has psychic powers known as “The Shining,” and this ability manifests in horrific visions of the hotel’s violent past. At the same time, Jack comes under psychic assault by the Overlook’s many ghosts, urging him to kill his family, continuing the chain of the hotel’s violent history. In the middle is Wendy, desperately trying to keep her family intact as they are manipulated by the hotel’s supernatural presence, building to a gruesome and explosive climax.

One of the impressive feats of The Shining is the restraint shown by Kubrick, especially when you compare this to the director’s nihilistic 1971 dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange. The late 1970s and early 80s saw the birth of the teenage slasher genre, starting with John Carpenter’s Halloween, Prom Night, and the endless Friday the 13^th franchise. And while The Shining does dabble in the slasher style, particularly in the film’s final half hour, Kubrick smartly embraced his horror film as a ghost story, employing a less is more approach. 

And Kubrick’s stylistic flourishes are on full display and enhanced by the (then) new Steadicam technology. The director films the actors in distant, wide angles as the camera slowly floats through the frame, creating an almost POV shot of the hotel’s ghosts watching these pesky humans invading their turf. Also effective is the camera following Danny riding his tricycle through the Overlook’s labyrinth hallways, building tension and unease as he turns corners and the wheels clank between the rug and hard flooring. And the new camera technology helped craft one of Kubrick’s most visually striking sequences, the thrilling cat-and-mouse chase between the axe-wielding Jack and Danny in the snow-capped hedge maze. A scene heavily modified from King’s source novel.

The actors are always secondary in a Kubrick movie, but the core four of Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duvall, Danny Torrance, and Scatman Crothers do solid and effective work here. Nicholson is the weak link, as he’s slightly miscast as everyman Jack, with his fierce eyes and sneering smile. From his first appearance, you know this guy will go cuckoo as he succumbs to the hotel’s murderous influence. Kubrick had a reputation as a prickly perfectionist. He was known to manipulate his actors, doing dozens and dozens, sometimes hundreds of takes, wearing his actors down to the bone. This is why reliably sharp, charismatic actors give lethargic performances in the director’s films, like Nicole Kidman’s bizarre slow drawl line delivery in his 1999 mystery Eyes Wide Shut. Fortunately, that style works for this film, creating a strange, dreamlike atmosphere that adds to the tension.

I could go on and on with my praise of this film. There’s the use of color in the production design, like the blood-red bathrooms and the lime-green hotel suite. The Overlook Hotel, with its imposing size and cavern-like ballrooms, is practically a character terrorizing our disintegrating family. The spare, underhanded music score, provided by various composers, including TRON’s Wendy Carlos, coupled with the languid tone, creates a pace that engrosses and never feels slow. This movie demands to be seen in a theatre, as the small screen dilutes its creepy, immersive qualities.

The Shining would become an influential and groundbreaking horror masterpiece, inspiring many imitators and piercing the pop culture landscape. It’s hard to believe that the movie did middling box office; it’s not precisely a flop but not a big hit. Modern audiences being fed a steady stream of cheap slasher films probably lost patience with the strange, quiet tone of the movie. The film would grow in stature thanks to the nascent home video market and repeat airings on cable channels. As such, it’s probably Kubrick’s most accessible work for newcomers.

THE REVENGE OF STEPHEN KING:

As King’s power grew in Hollywood thanks to the successful hit films based on his many works, the author was able to retaliate against Kubrick’s version. He produced a 1997 mini-series of The Shining that was a much more faithful adaptation, starring Steven Weber and Rebecca De Mornay. It’s a muted and dull version, shackled by its low TV budget and dated visual effects. And you will constantly compare it to the more famous 1980 predecessor, so set your expectations accordingly.

But King really gave the middle finger to Kubrick with his 2013 sequel novel Doctor Sleep, chronicling an adult Danny dealing with both his alcoholism and his “shining” abilities. The book was written expressly to contradict the many changes in Kubrick’s film adaptation. In 2019 Warner Bros. produced a film version starring Ewan McGregor as the adult Danny and a wonderfully villainous Rebecca Ferguson as the creepy “Rose the Hat.” The Doctor Sleep movie is pretty good, particularly the superior “director’s cut,” and deserves a separate review. Director/writer Mike Flanagan pulls off the magic trick of making the movie work as a sequel to the novel and the Kubrick film, splitting the difference. He convinced King to let him use Kubrick’s imagery to line up with the more famous 1980 film, slightly massaging the book’s narrative. This movie is worth your time if you want to see any of The Shining-inspired side projects.

Finally, super-producer J.J. Abrams was developing a TV series entitled The Overlook Hotel for HBO Max to serve as a prequel to the 1980 film. Sadly, HBO passed on the project, and Abrams has been trying to shop it to other networks, but the series now seems to be…” redrum.”