The Shining
Movie, 1980, The Overlook, Set in The Overlook Hotel
The Shining is #3 of 42 in release order and #36 of 42 in chronological order in the Stephen King Universe.
The story
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
The Shining recap
The Shining (1980) follows Jack Torrance, a failed writer who takes the winter caretaker job at the snowbound Overlook Hotel in Colorado with his wife and son. Stanley Kubrick directs Jack Nicholson as Jack, Shelley Duvall as Wendy and Danny Lloyd as Danny, a boy with psychic visions he says come from "Tony", a voice in his mouth. Head chef Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) recognises the gift, calls it the shining, and warns Danny to stay away from Room 237. As the hotel empties, Jack's writing stalls and he drinks with a ghostly bartender, Lloyd, and talks with Delbert Grady, a former caretaker who killed his family. Danny is attacked in Room 237. Wendy discovers Jack's manuscript is hundreds of pages of one sentence: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". Jack sabotages the radio and the snowcat, and Danny sends a psychic call for help to Hallorann in Florida.
The Shining ending explained
The Shining ends with Jack frozen to death in the hedge maze. Jack breaks through the bathroom door with an axe, and Hallorann arrives only to be killed by him. Danny leads his father into the maze, backtracks in his own footprints and escapes with Wendy in Hallorann's snowcat. The final shot shows Jack in a 1921 Fourth of July ball photograph on the hotel wall. In the novel, the hotel's boiler explodes and destroys the Overlook, and Hallorann survives; King has long disliked Kubrick's changes.
Post-credits scenes
No. The Shining has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch The Shining
The Shining is streaming on HBO Max in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 8.4/10, Rotten Tomatoes 84%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Salem's Lot, before Creepshow.
- Chronological order: after Castle Rock, before Doctor Sleep.
What to watch before The Shining
Nothing. The Shining (1980) doesn't continue an earlier version, so it stands on its own.
Cast
- Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance
- Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance
- Danny Lloyd as Danny
- Scatman Crothers as Hallorann
- Barry Nelson as Ullman
- Philip Stone as Grady
- Joe Turkel as Lloyd
- Anne Jackson as Doctor
- Tony Burton as Durkin
- Lia Beldam as Young Woman in Bath
- Billie Gibson as Old Woman in Bath
- Barry Dennen as Watson
Directed by Stanley Kubrick.