The Shining has received a lot of backlash because it was different from the novel that Stephen King wrote. A lot of people loved how The Shining was written, along with other Stephen King novels and for the movie to differ so greatly from the novel, it caused a lot of problems. Stanley Kurbick, who was the director of the film, said it would be “the scariest movie of all time.” Stephen King has written many best-selling novels but this one in particular got him famous.

The movie, “The Shining”, was about Jack Torrance getting a job as a winter caretaker for the Overlook hotel. He brought along his family with him and one of the down falls of the job is that they were going to be isolated for five months. The Overlook hotel is in a mountain where it heavily snowed and no car except for a snow cat could get through the streets. This is one of the reasons why they close for the winter season. With the time before, I could see the lack of equipment to clear the roads for tourists. The manager informed them that it just costs too much to clear the roads. It was 25 miles of roads with 20 feet of snow they must clear. But if the Overlook hotel was real, it would be able to clear the roads with the right equipment and maybe open a ski resort to help with the money problem. Jack is a former teacher who actually wants to be a writer so he thinks that isolating himself for five months will help him write.

The manager did inform Jack that there was an incident with another caretaker before him. He was told that the caretaker went berserk and crazy and he killed his entire family, a wife and two daughters. He cut him into pieces with an axe. He was told that isolation does mess with people. Jack did seem like that made him uncomfortable but told them that he doesn’t think it will happen to him and he told them that his wife, Wendy, loves horror things and he tells them that she would love that story.  The family got into the hotel and they went for a tour. They then met a black cook who had “The Shining” the same as Danny who was the son. The Shining is like telepathy and clairvoyance. They could talk with their minds and see things from either the past of the future.

There was a lot of disagreement between Kurbick and King. Kurbick stated, “I would say King’s great ability is in plot construction. He doesn’t seem to take great care in writing, I mean, the writing seems like if he writes it once, reads it, maybe writes it again, and sends it off to the publisher.” Stephen king is one, if not the greatest, horror writer of all time. He admitted that he has never read any of Stephen King’s novels except for “The Shining” and yet he was fascinated by the novel that he wanted to make it into the scariest movie of all time. While Kurbick disagreed with how the novel was written, that’s why he did not even read the script Stephen King had wrote and wrote the screenplay with Diane Johnson, King disagreed with the movie. He did not like how the movie turned out. He was not allowed to talk about it though. King has stated that he was disappointed how the film turned out as it was suspenseful in a few scenes but there were scenes that were flat. He also disagreed with the casting. He did not want Jack Nicholson to star as Jack Torrance. Although Jack Nicholson was a terrific actor, he thought that he already looked crazy at the first of the film and the movie was about how Jack Torrance went crazy because of the isolation and the hotel. I do agree with this. Although I do love Jack Nicholson, he did not look like the right fit. He does look crazy. Especially when he smiles. So the story of how he was getting crazy because of everything that’s happening in the movie got overshadowed because he already looked crazy from the beginning.

I had to watch the movie with someone. Although I was expecting it to be not as scary as everyone was saying, I could never watch a horror film alone. And I was glad I did because the music was horrifying. After watching the movie, me and my friend were confused with the picture at the end. I knew he was a reincarnation but what does that have to do with the story? On the video, “The Shining: Ending Explained,” they gave a few explanations to the movie’s ending but what made sense to me is that Jack Torrance was a reincarnated character that always have to go back because of the Hotel’s history of violence. The flashbacks that Jack was having in the ballroom suggested this is true. He also stated when Wendy has brought him breakfast in bed that he felt that he has been in that hotel. After watching this movie, I am eager to read the book and see what else did Kurbick changed and will I like Stephen King’s interpretation more than his?