Th3Blogster: The Shining 1980

The Shining is a 1980 horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Kubrick co-wrote the screenplay with novelist Diane Johnson. The film stars Jack Nicholson as tormented writer Jack Torrance, Shelley Duvall as his wife, Wendy, and Danny Lloyd as their son, Danny.

The film tells the story of a writer, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), who accepts the job of the winter caretaker at a hotel which always gets snowed in during the winter. While his family looks around the hotel during closing day, the psychic hotel cook discovers the psychic abilities of Jack's son Danny, and Danny's ability to detect ghostly presences in the hotel. In the cook's family, this ability is called "shining". When the hotel becomes snowbound, Jack Torrance is driven mad by the ghosts in the hotel, and he tries to murder his wife and son.

Initial response to the film was mixed, and it did moderately well at the box office. Subsequent critical assessment of the film has been more favorable, and it is now viewed as a classic of the horror genre.