Stephen King's The Shining (1997)
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A family's winter isolation at a remote hotel turns into a nightmare of supernatural occurrences and psychological breakdown.
The story
Jack Torrance, struggling with alcoholism and a volatile temper, takes a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. He hopes the isolation will allow him to finish writing a play while staying with his wife, Wendy, and their young son, Danny. However, the hotel harbors a malevolent force that begins to exert a terrifying influence on the family. As the winter sets in, Danny begins to experience supernatural visions and telepathic connections, while Jack becomes increasingly obsessed with the hotel's dark history, leading to a growing sense of dread and hostility within the household.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Jack Torrance, a man battling alcoholism, accepts a position as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. While there, his son Danny discovers he can communicate telepathically with Dick Hallorann, who warns him that he 'shines.' A malevolent force in the hotel begins to haunt the family, showing Danny visions of the future through a man named Tony. Jack becomes obsessed with the hotel's past, eventually hearing his late father's voice urging him to punish Danny. The atmosphere turns violent as Jack sabotages their escape and is eventually lured into the hotel's ballroom by the spirit of Delbert Grady, who demands he murder his family. After Wendy manages to lock Jack in a cooler, Grady frees him, leading to a brutal assault on Wendy. In the climax, Danny warns of a boiler explosion. Jack attempts to fix it but is manipulated into reversing the valve, causing a massive steam explosion that levels the hotel and kills him. Ten years later, Danny, now resembling Tony, graduates from high school while the spirits of the Overlook continue to play croquet.
- First release year
- 1997
- Runtime (minutes)
- 273
- Production countries
- United States
- Directors
- Mick Garris
- Writers
- Stephen King · writer
- Cast and characters
- Steven Weber · Jack Torrance; Rebecca De Mornay · Wendy Torrance; Courtland Mead · 7-year-old Danny Torrance; Wil Horneff · Tony; Danny around age 17; Melvin Van Peebles · Dick Hallorann; Pat Hingle · Pete Watson; Elliott Gould · Stuart Ullman; John Durbin · Horace Derwent
- Genres
- Psychological horror; Thriller; Supernatural drama
- Themes
- Alcoholism; Family breakdown; Supernatural haunting; Isolation
- Tone and mood
- Creepy; Claustrophobic; Atmospheric
- Premise and plot tags
- Haunted House; Psychological Horror; Supernatural; Family Drama
- Source material / true-story basis
- 1977 Stephen King novel of the same name
- Franchise connections
- The Shining
- Content notes
- Domestic violence; Alcohol abuse; Ghosts
- Production trivia
- The miniseries was shot at The Stanley Hotel, which was King's inspiration for the novel.; King appeared as an orchestra conductor in the miniseries.; The production team spent $100,000 on snowmaking machines because the hotel was in a 'snow shadow'.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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