Turning an okay Stephen King book into a horrifying masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (20 January 2001)

I can't remember if I read the book before I watched the movie. All I remember is that this movie made it hard for me to sleep, walk into the bathroom without opening the shower curtain first, or even just walk down a hallway. The book was scary but nearly as much as Kubrick's version of the story. What surprised me was to find out that Stephen King actually hated Kubrick's take. That's why he wrote a screenplay for it and turned it into that overly done TV movie version which had better special effects I admit, but none of the psychological suspense of picturing what might happen since King made sure you could see all of it. Kubrick put in his artistical watermark with his imagery and colors and music choices. Sure, Stephen King provided the canvas and the subject for the movie, but Kubrick painted it into a masterpiece that continues to frighten audiences today. That is what is lacking in the scary movies of now. If you watch them once, you aren't frightened for subsequent viewing. I can watch this movie 100 times and still walk away scared out of my wits. And that's what makes this movie a classic.