The Shining

A young family moves into an isolated hotel in Stephen King’s haunted house novel that evolved into Stanley Kubrick’s terrifying psychological horror masterpiece.

For Jack Torrance, the idea of working at the Overlook Hotel during a seasonal closure period is ideal. He can write his novel in relative solitude, while his wife, Wendy, tends to the hotel’s upkeep. Together with their young son, Danny, they’ll have the place to themselves.

But the Overlook Hotel holds secrets in its walls, spirits in its empty rooms, and Danny – who is discovering supernatural abilities he’s far too young to fully understand – starts receiving gruesome visions of the hotel’s horrific past.

Curator’s Note

Time has been kind to The Shining. Famously disliked by Stephen King upon its release and unfathomably nominated for the Worst Director and Worst Actress awards at the inaugural Razzie Awards, Stanley Kubrick’s first and only horror film is today regarded as one of the best films of all time. 

The Shining was Stephen King’s third novel to be published and adapted to the screen. Whereas Carrie and Salem’s Lot were both directed by relatively new filmmakers in Brian De Palma and Tobe Hooper, The Shining drew the attention of a bona fide great.

Not one to follow the rules, Kubrick eschewed some of the novel’s indulgences to focus more on dark human psychology than malevolent spirits, rendering the film unforgettable in its eerie ambiguity.

Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)