40 Spine-Chilling Revelations about The Shining
37. Stephen King famously criticized the movie, feeling it was subpar, a sentiment shared by many critics who were divided on whether it strayed more from King’s book or Kubrick’s previous work. Brian DePalma’s Carrie in 1976 and a 1979 Salem’s Lot miniseries both took liberties with their source material, but The Shining really bothered King, even after his own 1997 miniseries, which he wrote and produced, starring Steven Weber as Jack Torrance, received poor reviews.
“I think The Shining is a visually stunning film, akin to a beautiful Cadillac without an engine,” King told Deadline around 2013. “At the time of its release, many reviews were unfavorable, and I was among those reviewers. I refrained from voicing my opinion then, but I didn’t care for it much.”
“I feel the same way,” he added, “because the character of Jack Torrance lacks development in the movie. There’s absolutely no growth. When we first see Jack Nicholson, he’s already portrayed as insane. He only becomes more unhinged. In the book, he struggles with his sanity before ultimately losing it. To me, that’s a tragedy. In the movie, there’s no tragedy because there’s no real evolution. Another significant difference is the ending: in my book, the hotel explodes, while in Kubrick’s movie, it freezes.”
“But I did meet Kubrick, and there’s no denying his intelligence. He’s responsible for some movies that I hold in high regard, like Dr. Strangelove and Paths of Glory. He achieved remarkable things, but he was very isolated. When you spoke to him, you could sense that he was present but not fully engaged. He was lost in his own world.”