The Shining

1980 • 143 minutes

About this movie

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" -- or, rather, a homicidal boy in Stanley Kubrick's eerie 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel. With wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and psychic son Danny (Danny Lloyd) in tow, frustrated writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes a job as the winter caretaker at the opulently ominous, mountain-locked Overlook Hotel so that he can write in peace. Before the Overlook is vacated for the Torrances, the manager (Barry Nelson) informs Jack that a previous caretaker went crazy and slaughtered his family; Jack thinks it's no problem, but Danny's "shining" hints otherwise. Settling into their routine, Danny cruises through the empty corridors on his Big Wheel and plays in the topiary maze with Wendy, while Jack sets up shop in a cavernous lounge with strict orders not to be disturbed. Danny's alter ego, "Tony," however, starts warning of "redrum" as Danny is plagued by more blood-soaked visions of the past, and a blocked Jack starts visiting the hotel bar for a few visions of his own. Frightened by her husband's behavior and Danny's visit to the forbidding Room 237, Wendy soon discovers what Jack has really been doing in his study all day, and what the hotel has done to Jack.

Ratings and reviews

I know a lot of people disagree with me on this, but I really hate this movie. I am a die hard Stephen King fan and "The Shining" was my first book of his that I read. This movie is so unfaithful to the source material it is aggravating. Stephen King himself hates this movie because the book was terrifying and the movie took every scary scene from it and replaced them with half-assed attempts at scares. Also, SPOILER ALERT!!! Holoran doesn't die in the book! He saves their lives! Now that they had him die in the movie, "Doctor Sleep" can't happen which is so aggravating. Stanley Kubrick paid no respect to King or the source material. If you are a fan of the book, stay far far away

I first saw the movie several years ago and was completely in love with it and it became one of my favorite Stephen King movies. A few years later I read the book and after I finished I was completely awestruck. It's literally NOTHING like the book, so if you expect the movie to be like the book, I don't recommend this movie for you.

Am I the only person who disliked this movie? I mean, the movie is good on it's own but if you read the book you'll realize how bad the movie actually is. Stephen king wrote a masterpiece that resonates with you but Kubrick made a movie with random changes to the book. Like, in the book you can tell that Jack is a good guy and the hotel is what makes him bad but in the movie he is just really mean throughout the movie. King's is like a descent into madness, Kubrick's is unsettling at best.