Ugh

Rating: 2/10 (6 July 2003)

Kubrick massacred what I believe to be the scariest King novel. It is well known that King was not happy with the results of the work, but seldom does he say so...nowadays he just says that he can't talk about the film out of respect for the dead. A hedge maze in lieu of the topiary? Bad casting with Shelley Duvall (and the kid who played Danny sucked as well). Hell, the movie doesn't even end the right way. The only thing this movie had in common with the book was the title, character names, and the fact that it takes place in a hotel. The rest is hilarious bunk.
I am also of the opinion that much of King's work does not translate well onto the big screen. There are exceptions; Green Mile, Shawshank, Stand by Me, and ones that focused on his short stories, like Cat's Eye, and Creepshow. Maybe it's coincidence that he worked with the directors for these. I must admit, the made for TV version of The Shining was far superior. Although, there were a few things that were left out, the truly great parts of the book are there. The woman in the shower scene was great! It was far more in depth simply because it was made for TV; it had plenty of time to tell the story and develop the characters. There was an actual Tony, instead of a finger (that was such a dumb concept).

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And then there was Jack (Steven Webber), who took the long, hard descent into insanity, rather than going from 0-10 in the first 15 minutes of the original. He actually died the right way as well, screw freezing outside in a hedge maze, lol. I don't know, maybe I'm too loyal a King fan (although he too, has written some crap, but I like most of it), but I think that Kubrick made the worst adaptation of a King work.