The Shining (Book 1977/ Film1980)

Synopsis: Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, and their young son Danny move into the Overlook Hotel, where Jack has been hired as the winter caretaker. Cut off from civilization for months, Jack hopes to battle alcoholism and uncontrolled rage while writing a play. Evil forces residing in the Overlook, which has a long and violent history, covet young Danny for his precognitive powers and exploit Jack’s weaknesses to try to claim the boy.

The Shining is the third novel from the twisted mind of Mr. King. Many believe that it was this book that truly put him on the map when it comes to the Horror genre and I have to agree with that group as well. My first encounter with this story like most everyone else, wasn’t the book but the film written and directed by Stanley Kubrick who was well known for making movies that not only scared you but took it a step even further and would disturb you. Kubrick would leave you with a kind of knot in the pit of your stomach. Before reading the book, the film was one of my all time favorite horror movies. After reading the book, the movie means even more to me because I understand all of the little random moments in the movie that without reading the book you just looked right past or they just simply didn’t make sense to you. At the point of writing this review I have read 9 King books now and The Shining stands tall as my absolute favorite so far. There is just so much detail in the story that there isn’t a way they could have fit it all into one movie. Stephen King actually hates the film. Mostly for the way that Kubrick portrayed his characters which I will agree is very different from the book. In the book, Jack Torrance is on his last limb. He’s lost teaching jobs, He has a serious anger problem that stems from his father, he’s a “recovering” alcoholic and he is taking this job as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel as a last ditch effort to get things back together before he loses his career as a writer, his family, but most importantly, his life. Sure, this is a horror story full of ghosts and powers and pure evil but truthfully, this story is more so about addiction and the fight and struggle one goes through to keep it at bay the rest of their life. Wendy Torrance isn’t this weak and frail lady that we see in the movie. She’s actually a very intelligent, strong and beautiful woman that has just about had all she can take of Jack’s issues and the problems that they bring onto her and their son Danny. Danny is also very different in the book. He’s our hero who has been blessed (or cursed) with the gift of “The Shining”. He can see things before they happen as well as know what people are thinking without hearing them say a single word. King has a fascination with telepathy and everything surrounding it. It comes up in this book, Carrie, The Stand and so many others. The Shine is everywhere. The Overlook and all of the evil residing inside it’s walls feel the power of this little boy and want to use him to their advantage. With him being there, the spirits are able to be more active and physical than ever before, hence why he is so important to them. You learn SO much about the history of this Hotel. When it was built, who built it, why it was built and all of the stories behind the major ghosts that haunt it’s halls. Our other hero in the book and also makes his appearance in the film is the Hotel Cook, Mr. Dick Hallorann who we learn right away has “The Shine” as well and can telekinetically speak to Danny. This becomes a huge plot point in the book but doesn’t get used at all the same way in the film. King does what he does best and as you read, you begin to get this helpless feeling. Hopelessness creeps into your mind with everything that happens gradually through every chapter. Time loses it’s meaning here. Morals go out the window. The film is a work of art all its own. It holds to the original story but with some changes. Most of the differences were to create a more visual terror that certain things from the book just couldn’t do. And there are parts in the book that the film never could have achieved. My love for this story as a whole is massive. To this day, it creeps me out to think of Jack Nicholson crashing his way through that bathroom door with the fire axe. Pure terror at its finest.

What are the major differences? (SPOILERS)

• Like I said previously, the characters from book to film are the same but also extremely different. While Nicholson shows us this unhinged madman in the movie, the book shows us a father trying with everything in him to fight what is happening to him because he loves his family and wants to protect them, until he can no longer hold out from the evil within.
• In the book, we learn about the history of the hotel and of its ghosts. How some of them came to be permanent residents due to mob killings, or how the old woman in the bath (who we see in the film as well) slit her wrists because no one loved her. The film uses the idea of the ghosts to scare you rather than explain why they are there in the first place.
• In the film, there is a huge hedge maze where the climactic ending of the movie shows Jack chasing Danny wielding his axe. Jack ends up getting lost in the snowy maze and freezes to death. In the book, a major part of his job is to make sure he releases the pressure off of the boiler in the basement everyday. Well in the end when he’s been trying to kill his family with a roque mallet (basically a fancy croquet mallet) he has totally forgotten about the boiler. Everyone gets out but Jack before it explodes taking him along with the evil hotel with it.
• Dick Hallorann plays a major role in the novel. He teaches Danny how to call for him using The Shine, even from hundreds of miles away due to how strong Danny is in his powers. Danny calls for Dick’s help from Colorado all the way to Florida and Dick being the good man he is, starts his travels back to the Overlook to save Danny.  Not only does he save Danny and Wendy, he ends up being a mentor to Danny and looks after them from then on. In the film, everything pretty much goes the same way until Dick gets back to the hotel. He walks in the front door, turns the corner and Jack plants his axe right into his stomach killing him there. I always hated that part due to how much focus was put on Hallorann throughout the movie until then.
• A major part in the book that was left out completely from the movie were the hedge animals that came to life. They were replaced with the maze in the film. In the novel, they are the guardians of the hotel. There are a few moments where Danny and Jack separately see them move but are never sure of what they’ve seen. Until the very end when they attack Hallorann as he’s making his way to the Overlook in the snow. Would have been a cool scene in the film I think.
• When you think about The Shining I’m sure these images come to mind… Elevator pouring gallons of blood into the hallway. The twin dead girls taunting Danny to come play with them. the phrase “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Well, all of those things are strictly in the film alone. None of those things are in the book at all. Which goes to show that the movie is just as amazing and distinctive as the book.

In 1997, there was a made for TV  movie of The Shining produced which actually won 2 Emmy awards. It still didn’t get the best reviews but they did throw in the hedge animals, so theres that. With Halloween creeping up on us, I would diffidently recommend watching and reading The Shining. I give them both a 5 out of 5 stars. I seriously love them that much. The next book up for review is Rage which is also King’s first story written under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman. So get ready because a class on life and death is about to be in session! Leave your comments and thoughts below and until next time, happy reading!