All Work and No Play...

...makes one hell of a good movie.

Today's recommendation is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980). Picture below.

The Shining starts off with the main character, Jack Torrence, in an interview for a caretaker job at a luxurious Colorado mountain-top hotel named the Overlook. The Overlook is closing down for the winter (there's just too much snow to maintain to bother keeping it open in those months) so they need someone who will stay up here for the entire winter knowing that they will be unable to leave the hotel or be a part of civilization during that time. Jack is offered the job after he is made well aware of the isolation involved as well as being informed that the previous caretaker, Dilbert Grady, had developed cabin fever from the isolation and had killed his wife, two daughters, and then himself. Jack is surprised to hear this information, but is still very eager to get the job. Back at home, Jack's wife, Wendy and their young son, Danny, await a call from Jack to see if he got the job. Danny, who is a very odd little boy, has a bad feeling about the hotel. We are also introduced to Tony in this scene, who is the imaginary boy who supposedly lives in Danny's mouth. Tony shows Danny foreshadowing images of a hotel elevator spilling out gallons of blood, which terrifies Danny and causes him to pass out. A doctor arrives to check up on Danny, and Wendy mentions to the doctor how Jack had once broken Danny's arm in a drunken rage, but that after that incident he had dropped alcohol completely. Jack eventually comes to take Wendy and Danny back up to the Overlook where they go on an elaborate tour of the premises. While Wendy and Jack continue on a tour, the hotel chef takes care of Danny. The chef had talked to Danny telepathically and explained that they both have a power that most people don't called "shining" and then warns Danny to avoid going to room 237. All of the hotel staff pack up and leave the Torrence family alone for the winter. Everything goes splendidly until Jack starts to become entranced with the hotel which feeds his rage against his family.

This movie is a very classic horror film. If you don't enjoy movies with a lot of suspense this movie is probably not for you. There isn't much gore so blood shy people should probably be alright. It's more of a psychological thriller than anything else. Kubrick did leave out specific things from the book, but some of those alterations (such as changing the possessed hedge animals to the giant maze) actually make this movie timeless, instead of cheesy. Being a Stephen King fan who has actually read this book, I must admit that Kubrick really butchered the story, but it still is a great movie on its own. I appreciate King's novel and Kubrick's film, but as totally separate works.

Fun facts:
- Danny Lloyd (the kid who plays Danny) thought the movie was actually a drama for years after filming. Kubrick actually made a highly edited version to show him so he wouldn't be disturbed from the actual content.
- Kubrick was said to have been excruciatingly mean to Shelley Duvall during filming, which apparently put her even more into her character.
- The original trailer for The Shining showed the bloody elevator, which was not originally approved because it was thought to be too scary for a trailer. Kubrick finally got it approved by claiming that it was just rusty water coming out of the elevator.
- Stephen King (the author of the novel) hated this adaptation and decided to make his own film adaptation of the novel which was released in 1997.
- Kubrick's daughter, Vivian, made a documentary of behind the making of The Shining, which can be found in the bonus features in the DVD, HD-DVD, and Bluray versions or at this link. She was 17 when she made it.
- Danny Lloyd made up the finger wiggle thing for Tony when he first auditioned for the role and Kubrick liked it so much that he decided to let him use it during the movie.
- Kubrick's first choice for the role of Jack was Jack Nicholson, but he also considered using Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, and Robin Williams (Stephen King hated all of these choices).
- Although they do not mention it in the movie, Jack can be found sitting next to a large scrapbook on his writing desk which Jack used in the book to write a book about the hotel.
- The scene with Jack and Wendy on the stairs with the baseball bat was shot 127 times, which made a world record.
- Stephen King actually had a drinking problem when he wrote this novel. He was also living in Boulder, Colorado at the time which is where the Torrence's house was at the beginning of the movie.
- All of the strange people you see in the hotel (such as the man in a dog costume giving a blow job) are all explained for in the book, but not the movie.
- In the novel Jack actually uses a roque (similar, but larger than a croquet mallet) mallet instead of an axe.
- Jack's line, "Heeeere's Johnny!", is taken from the famous introduction for The Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, as spoken by Ed McMahon. The line was improvised by Nicholson. Carson later used the Nicholson clip to open his 1980 Anniversary Show on NBC.

If you want to see a short video on mistakes and numerology found in The Shining, check out this video.

This movie is rated R for intense sequences of violence and terror, language and nudity. This is not a movie for kids. Teenagers over 15 would probably be alright.

Link to the trailer