Editorials

‘The Shining’ at 25 – Heading Back to the Overlook for a More Faithful Adaptation

Published

2 years ago

April 27, 2022

Not all Stephen King adaptations are created equal, but the author usually keeps his criticisms to himself. The one exception is The Shining; King has been famously vocal, to varying extents over the years, about his issues with Stanley Kubrick’s take on his 1977 novel. King’s constant readers also grapple with the disconnect between the movie and its source material.

For his third published novel, the author penned a tragic, personal story about coming to terms with his alcoholism. The 1980 film — masterful technical achievement though it is —is more of a clinical exercise in dread. King has called it “a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it.”

So when ABC approached King to do another TV miniseries based on his work following the success of 1994’s The Stand, the author expressed interest in The Shining. To ensure this version was more faithful, King translated his own 447-page novel into a three-part teleplay. The general plot is the same as Kubrick’s — a recovering alcoholic moves into a haunted hotel with his family — but there are several impactful changes along the way.

After Brian De Palma — who, of course, was the first to adapt King with Carrie — passed on helming the project, King reunited with The Stand and Sleepwalkers director Mick Garris. Produced by Warner Bros. Television, the 1997 miniseries was filmed in 72 days on a budget of $21 million. (For the project to move forward, Kubrick was paid $1.5 million, and it was stipulated that King could not disparage the original movie.)

The production was largely filmed on location at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado; the allegedly haunted locale that inspired King to write the novel. Most of the cast and crew resided there during the shoot, and some even reported feeling a paranormal presence. King was present for approximately two thirds of the shoot, during which he was writing The Green Mile.

King’s chief criticism of Kubrick’s The Shining is Jack Torrance’s lack of a character arc; rather than a slow descent from family man to madman, King found Jack Nicholson’s portrayal to be crazy from the start. Many actors approached for the role of Jack — including The Stand lead Gary Sinise — turned it down out of fear of being compared to Nicholson. With pressure mounting, Wings star Steven Weber read for the role and was cast a mere three days before shooting began.

Weber has gone on record saying he did not feel any trepidation; rather, he relished the opportunity to flex his acting chops after being typecast as affable goofballs for so long. The lack of intimidation paid off, as Webber brings the nuance of King’s words to the screen in a way that Nicholson — undeniably iconic as he is — did not.

King has also taken umbrage with Kubrick’s misogynistic take on Jack’s wife, Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall. King affords his version of the character, portrayed by Rebecca De Mornay (Risky Business), more agency rather than relegating her to, as he once eloquently referred to it, a “screaming dishrag.”

Arguably, the only misstep in The Shining TV miniseries’ casting is that of Courtland Mead (The Little Rascals) as the Torrance’s son, Danny, who possesses a form of precognition referred to as the shine. The young actor, who turned 9 during production, is more animated but also more grating than Danny Lloyd’s earlier portrayal.

Casting Melvin Van Peebles (best known as the filmmaker/star behind the landmark blaxploitation film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song) as hotel cook Dick Hallorann, on the other hand, was inspired. Like Scatman Crothers before him — albeit with a different fate — he’s the story’s secret weapon, bonding with Danny over their shared gift.

Other notable cast members include Elliott Gould (M*A*S*H) as the Overlook’s general manager, Pat Hingle (Batman) as his right-hand man, Mick’s wife Cynthia Garris as the ghastly woman in room 217 (which earned her a coveted Fangoria cover), Shawnee Smith (Saw) as a waitress, and an uncredited Miguel Ferrer (who starred in The Stand as well as The Night Flier) as the voice of Jack’s abusive father.

In addition to cameos from King (playing an orchestra conductor credited as Gage Creed, sharing his name with the ill-fated boy from Pet Sematary) and Garris, genre luminaries Sam Raimi, Frank Darabont, The Crow scribe David J. Schow, and writer Richard Christian Matheson (who later adapted King in Nightmares & Dreamscapes and Big Driver) make brief appearances.

Another significant discrepancy between the novel and Kubrick’s film that King aimed to correct was the ending. “The book is hot, and the movie is cold; the book ends in fire, and the movie in ice,” the author astutely observed. Indeed, the momentous finale in which Jack Nicholson is left to freeze in the hedge maze was written for the movie. The book and miniseries conclude with Jack dying when the Overlook’s boiler explodes, destroying the hotel with him.

Moreover, the hedge maze itself was Kubrick’s creation. The book instead features topiary animals that come to life, but Kubrick smartly recognized that the technology did not yet exist to pull them off satisfactorily. They are restored for Garris’ production; their movements accomplished via a mix of puppetry and early CGI (which, although adequate by 1997 standards, has not aged well). Garris cites the topiaries as the most challenging part of the shoot.

Several more of the most memorable elements from Kubrick’s movie — including the Grady twins, the bleeding elevator, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” Jack’s axe, “Here’s Johnny,” and the distinctive carpet pattern — were of his own making. The ease with which he created iconography speaks to the auteur’s genius, but it also allows Garris’ adaptation to forge a more unique identity.

The pacing lags at times, especially when viewed through the modern lens in which long-form content is tailor-made for binging. But the miniseries format allows for the characters and their motives to be considerably more fleshed out than in Kubrick’s version, which left much to the imagination. Editor Patrick McMahon (A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Stand) reins in the 273 minutes of material.

The influential aesthetics of Kubrick’s film left big shoes to fill; it was a pioneer of both the Steadicam and electronic scores. Shelly Johnson (Captain America: The First Avenger, Jurassic Park III), who Garris calls the best director of photography he’s ever worked with, serves as the miniseries’ cinematographer. While the camerawork isn’t particularly ostentatious, the visuals are appropriately atmospheric. Nicholas Pike‘s (Sleepwalkers, Blood and Bone) score, performed by a 60-piece orchestra, adds a Gothic flavor with a haunting choral motif.

The TV version of The Shining won two Emmy Awards: Outstanding Makeup and Outstanding Sound Editing. The former was accomplished by a team that includes prosthetics by Steve Johnson (Ghostbusters, Species), makeup supervision by future Academy Award winner Bill Corso (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Deadpool), and additional work by Ve Neill (Beetlejuice, Ed Wood) and Joel Harlow (Star Trek, Inception).

The Shining aired on TV between April 27 and May 1, 1997. The initial reaction was largely positive, earning strong ratings (albeit not as high as The Stand), predominantly favorable reviews (including a rare perfect rating from TV Guide), and numerous awards and recognitions. Time has not been entirely kind to the miniseries; in addition to the CGI aging poorly, the critical opinion has shifted over the years, particularly when compared to Kubrick’s opus.

25 years later, The Shining remains one of the most faithful adaptations of King’s work and a fascinating TV companion to Kubrick’s feature film version. Not unlike Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, the miniseries illustrates both the advantages and disadvantages of an obsequious dedication to source material. With The Stand recently receiving a high-definition restoration, I hope The Shining is granted a similar opportunity to shine; the only way to see it currently is on DVD.

Alex DiVincenzo

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Editorials

Fifteen Years Later: A Look Back at the State of Horror in 2009

Published

3 days ago

May 3, 2024

Mike Holtz

Pictured: 'Friday the 13th'

Can you believe it’s already been fifteen years since 2009? I feel older than Jason’s mother’s head. But never mind all that. We’re going to look into the past in celebratory fashion today and take a month-to-month look at what the world of horror looked like back in 2009.

The dreaded month of January kicked things off in usual January fashion with a forgettable title, The Unborn. A David S. Goyer picture that’s not very memorable but managed to be the sixth most successful horror film of 2009 domestically, raking in over $42 million at the box office.

Right behind it on the calendar was Patrick Lussier’s My Bloody Valentine 3D starring “Supernatural” actor Jensen Ackles. This slasher remake took the idea of January horror and embraced it, making a silly and gory slasher that was the world’s first R-rated film to ever use Real3D technology. Anyone looking for legitimate scares was probably pissed (the film has a 44% Rotten “Audience” rating) but genre fans had fun with it to the tune of over $51 million at the box office (on a $14 million budget).

Next up, releasing on January 30 was the sleepy PG-13 horror flick The Uninvited. For the life of me, I’ll never understand the choice to release a movie called The Uninvited two weeks after a movie called The Unborn; to be fair, most of us are unable to remember much about either of them.

The reboot of Friday the 13th was served up to us for Valentine’s Day Weekend 2009. A slasher movie that made a ton of money and had fans begging for a sequel… that never came. The Platinum Dunes reboot may not be universally beloved, but I know a fair share of fans (myself included) who thought the new Jason, Derek Mears, and team made a film that was both fun and brutal. And it was juicy enough to come in as the number three most successful domestic horror film in 2009 to the tune of over $65 million. Friday the 13th ’09 was nowhere near perfect but it was a damn fun time with some underrated Jason Voorhees moments and a sleek plan to tell Jason’s origin story quickly via flashbacks that some superhero franchises could learn from. Oh yeah, and it starred the other “Supernatural” bro, Jared Padalecki. I’m sensing a pattern here.

‘Last House on the Left’

Next up, yet another remake of a classic horror film: The Last House on the Left. Wes Craven wanted to see what his low-budget horror film would look like with a little walking around money and the results were that we, the audience, got to see a dude get his head microwaved. The critics weren’t huge fans but let’s be honest, it could have been a lot worse given the subject matter and lack of nuance in the 2000s. Last House went on to land itself in the top ten horror box office returns of the year.

March would also feature one of the many notches in Kyle Gallner’s horror belt, The Haunting in Connecticut, a movie with maybe too many generic possession genre moments to make a major dent in the status quo but enough to make it memorable. I’d take it over many of The Conjuring franchise spinoffs of today, personally. Though, they’re all very much alike.

April Horror would conjure nothing for audiences but Sam Raimi would bring the loud, scary, and funny back to the genre with Drag Me to Hell on May 29. This film that was somehow still PG-13 even with a cat murder, flying old lady eyeball, and mouth-to-mouth puke action was a blast to experience in the theater. Audiences agreed as the film ranked #7 on the horror box office of the year, cashing out at $42 million thanks to a loveable lead in Alison Lohman, the forever horror victim Justin Long, and some good old-fashioned, Evil Dead II-type fun.

‘Drag Me to Hell’

July would shock horror fans in a completely different way with adoption horror flick Orphan. The ending may have had all of us feeling super uncomfortable and shocked but the movie itself had adoption groups majorly upset at how the film depicted the dangers of adoption. So much so that the studio had to add a pro-adoption message to the film’s DVD. No matter, the performance of Isabelle Fuhrman would carry the film to a $41 million box office run and later spawn a decent prequel in 2022.

Speaking of collecting, The Collector was also released in July 2009 and was a pleasant surprise featuring a shitload of originality and some scares to boot. Yet another horror success that would make $10 million on a $3 million budget and spawn a sequel. We’re still waiting on third installment, which abruptly stopped shooting several years back under strange circumstances.

The fourth Final Destination film graced us with its predestined presence in 2009 as well with The Final Destination; the 3D one with the race car track opening. The film was (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) a financial success, raking in over $186 million (worldwide) on a $40 million budget.

Rob Zombie went Rob Zombie’ing as hard as he’s ever Rob Zombie’d with Halloween II later that month. He’d Rob Zombie so hard that we wouldn’t see Halloween on the big screen again until almost ten years later with Halloween 2018. And nothing controversial ever happened in the franchise again. *Shuts book* Stop trying to open it! NO! NOOOOOOOO!

‘Halloween II’

Another remake in Sorority Row was the first film to follow Rob Zombie’s divisive stab-a-thon with a schlocky Scream-esque slasher flick that had a good enough time and even boasted a few neat kills. Critics weren’t fans of this one but if you were? You’ll be happy to hear that writer Josh Stolberg just announced he’s working on the follow-up!

Sexy Horror September continued a week later with Jennifer’s Body and an all-new, emo kind of Kyle Gallner. Jennifer’s Body didn’t exactly crush it for the critics or the box office but has success in its own right and is considered somewhat of a cult classic thanks to some hilarious writing and leading performances from Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. Also, shout out to Adam Brody’s band Low Shoulder. Machine Gun Kelly could never.

Part of the low box office for Jennifer’s Body could have had something to do with what came next as Paranormal Activity would rock the horror world a week later. The genius marketing of the low-budget film would feature clips of audiences on night vision cameras losing their minds. Whether it scared you to death or you found the entire concept ridiculous, you had to see it for yourself. Paranormal Activity would bring in almost $200 million worldwide on a 15 THOUSAND dollar budget. I’m no mathematician but I’m pretty sure that’s good. The horror game changer may just be the most remembered of all the 2009 films and it’s one every studio in the world wanted to replicate.

‘Paranormal Activity’

One film’s game changer is another film’s flop as Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster’s space horror Pandorum had the unfortunate scheduling of lining up against Paranormal Activity on that fateful day and in turn, being mostly forgotten.

Spooky Season 2009 kicked off with the beloved horror-comedy Zombieland in October, complete with Jesse Eisenberg’s meta-rules for surviving a zombie apocalypse, Bill Murray, and Woody Harrelson who just wanted a fuckin’ Twinkie. There’s nothing like a good horror comedy and Zombieland proved that all the way to the bank, making $74 million domestically en route to a second film that brought back the entire cast.

It’s only been twelve seconds since I said the word remake, so let’s fix that. The Stepfather remake would follow a week later and be met by an audience getting a little sick of them. Unlike some of the other spirited remakes that surrounded this era in horror (not that they ever stopped), The Stepfather felt like an uninspired retread of the understated but completely messed up 1987 Terry O’Quinn horror cult classic. It’s largely been forgotten over the years.

“Who am I here?” Oh yeah, it’s October in the 2000, there’s bound to be a Saw movie around here somewhere. Saw VI would be released on the 23rd of October and continue the story of Detective Hoffman while adjusting the rates of some shady insurance adjustors. Saw VI would also fall victim to a little bit of Paranormal Activity mania with the film being bested by the continued rollout of its predecessor. Things were looking a little bleak for the franchise at this point. Probably none of us would have imagined that fifteen years later we’d be talking about the same director (Kevin Greutert) returning for the eleventh movie in the franchise.

‘The House of the Devil’

After all these humongous box office successes, sequels, and remakes it would be three memorable indie flicks that would round out October of 2009; the ultra fucked up Willem Dafoe, Lars von Trier sex/horror flick Antichrist, followed by Ti West’s ’70s haunter The House of the Devil and rounded out with some Australian torture horror in Sean Byrne’s The Loved Ones. All three movies each make their mark in their own special ways. What a way to end October.

But it was November that would bring the movie that scared me more than any other on this list: The Fourth Kind. A lot of you are assuredly rolling your eyes right now but this one messed me up on a cellular level despite it being a complete and total fake. The Fourth Kind decided to meld a traditional horror film with the stylings of The Blair Witch Project in an opening designed to make you believe it was based on a true story. An embarrassing attempt but the film itself had me afraid to sleep near windows at night after seeing those found footage abductions. It still messes with me, to be honest. WHY ARE THEIR MOUTHS STRETCHING SO MUCH?!?!

December was too busy doing Avatar and Alvin and the Chipmunks-type family affairs for any horror movies but even without it, 2009 was quite a year for horror. I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention some other memorable films that were released either straight to video, limited or overseas that year including Case 39 (that oven opening!), Exam, Daybreakers, Splice, Dead Snow, The Hills Run Red, The Descent 2, Blood Creek, Cabin Fever 2 and [REC] 2.

What were your horror favorites from 2009? Comment below and let us know!