It’s kind of hard to see The Shining get the Honest Trailers treatment but at the same time it’s also kind of funny since you can run through this movie and see just what the narrator is talking about. So often the movie gets hailed as one of the best horror movies out there, but if you look at it again from a different perspective you can actually see that there are a lot of things that can be questioned and therefore stand as head-scratchers that make a person wonder what Kubrick was thinking. Or rather, what was Stephen King thinking when he gave up control to Stanley Kubrick almost entirely as Anne Billson of The Guardian states. It’s not much wonder why an author wouldn’t like what a director does to their story by changing this or that and expanding their own vision when the author was the person that made it possible in the first place. As it stands, The Shining is still one of the scariest movies of its time and is still effective in this day and age. But thinking about how it could have been better is pretty easy.
One thing that’s kind of disturbing to learn is that Kubrick didn’t really have much regard for Shelley Duvall’s state of mind as Nikola Budanovic of The Vintage News reveals. He kept her on edge almost continually throughout the project since he wanted to keep her on edge and be able to see that when he was shooting. Danny Lloyd however was spared as much of the horror as he could be since Kubrick seemed to be very protective of the young boy and kept him from seeing a great deal of the horror that was being filmed. In one regard it was kind of a sick and twisted bit of genius since Duvall did look strung out for a good portion of the movie, especially since she was slowly falling apart as the press of the place continued to get to her and Jack. But to think that Kubrick had to keep hammering her with one bit of stress after another is something you wouldn’t hear about today without a lawsuit or controversy coming right on its heels since the mental health of the actors and actresses on the set is seen as highly important. With Jack Nicholson however it would seem that his mental state was simply left in his own hands since he’s been the type that can go from somewhat normal to nothing less than psychotic in a matter of moments. But that’s why a lot of people like Nicholson anyway, his unpredictable nature on screen.
To be honest the book was a lot better in this situation, as is often seen with movies that are adapted from novels, but had King taken on his own story it does seem as though he would have been able to get his point across a little better since the author tends to know the story inside and out and has a very intimate knowledge of the characters, the setting, and the general feel of things. This is a big reason why you’ll hear criticism of any movie that’s based on a book or graphic novel or comic, the director will tend to follow their own vision and disregard the source material at times in favor of what they want to do. There weren’t a lot of ways to mess up The Shining since obviously it’s a massive hotel that’s being closed down for the season, which is kind of odd when you think about it since a place like that would be a great ski resort, even with a blizzard roaring through since then it could be a nice and cozy place to settle into for a bit. But the whole idea of a haunted hotel that’s been taken care of by two people and constantly explored by their young son is an even creepier story when the blizzard is factored in.
One thing that does bother me at this moment though has to do with Danny’s fugue states in which “Tony” would do the talking for him. Is it possible that the True Knot knew of Danny way back when? It makes a bit of sense considering that they’re hunting children in the upcoming Doctor Sleep, so perhaps Tony was a way of keeping Danny safe, or someone working against the True Knot through Danny. It’s hard to say since there’s a lot that might go into it, and yet it would make sense considering that the True Knot don’t seem to have had Danny on their radar until recently. Obviously from the standpoint of a reader this is because King just made the group up and installed them in the novel, but from a story perspective it could have also been the Overlook claiming dibs on Danny that kept the True Knot away. Anthony Breznican of Entertainment Weekly had a chance to sit down with Stephen King and ask several questions about the story.
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