The Shining

The Shining (1977) is one of Stephen King's early novels. Jack Torrance, a temperamental failed writer who had a drinking problem he's trying to forget, moves with his wife and young son to a sprawling hotel to maintain it over the winter. The hotel apparently is haunted and seems to feed off people with psychic powers; Torrance's son, who is mildly telepathic, begins seeing ghosts and strange occurrences, which, in spite of his wishes, turn out to be real; Jack, frustrated with his inability to work, begins drinking again and becomes increasingly unstable.

Film and TV miniseries adaptations

1. Film adaptation (1980) of Stephen King's novel of the same title by Stanley Kubrick. The main part is played by Jack Nicholson.

2. TV miniseries (1997) of Stephen King's novel by Mick Garris.

King reported that he was unhappy with the filming of his work, in large part because Jack Nicholson had just finished One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and he suspected that audiences would assume him crazy to begin with. He wrote another screenplay of the novel and had it refilmed in the late 90s. Kubrik´s version only used the concept of the King´s novel to experiment with the genre and many alegorical possibilities of the plot. One of his main aims was to describe in metaphor the background of genocide, but also some social consequences of mechanisation.