"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."That phrase stuck to the subconscious of anyone who dared to watch Stanley Kubrick's horror movie. Though as most people know Stephen King, the author of the book the movie's based on, was not too pleased with the result of Mr. Kubrick's film. No surprise once you think of it: Kubrick pretty much re-wrote the entire book and claimed it as his own.
Former teacher Jack Torrance has earned the job of caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. He, along with his wife Wendy and son Danny, are to stay at the hotel for the entire winter. Danny has a special power which the hotel chef Dick Hallorann calls "shining". As the days become weeks and the weeks become months, Jack's behavior starts to change...
The book and movie are SO different, it's like they're not anyway related. Both are equally scary, but I find the book better.
What's worth checking out?: Personally, I'd go with the book.
Interesting. I read and watched both of them ahead of writing a dissertation when I was University. I think it's hard to say which one's better: Kubrick does a rare thing in taking an excellent book, ripping out what he thought the best bits were and still coming out with an excellent film although because of this purists, and King, weren't pleased.
ReplyDeleteI think Kubrick shows how clever he is by what he ignores. The sections in the book with the animal maze for example are extensive and pretty terrifying but with the effects levels at the time of the film they would of been pretty awful and detracted from the physchological nature of the horror.
'The Shining' is one of the finest horror films ever made, and one of Stanley Kubrick's most amazing achievements .
ReplyDelete*high Five* I also think that the book is better than the movie...in fact I should say WAY better than the movie.
ReplyDeleteI almost turned it off when I watched it. My review of the movie was strongly hated the movie....no matter what people said about Kubrick's movie can't change my mind as I love the book so much and he dared to change it into something different.
I know I am a pain in the *ss person when it comes to movies based on my favorite books