Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror The Shining, based on Stephen King’s bestseller, is the perfect watch for a cult classic movie night.
The initially panned but ultimately beloved adaptation follows recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) who becomes the wintertime caretaker at Colorado’s Overlook Hotel which he moves into with his wife Wendy (played by the late Shelley Duvall) and psychic son Danny (Danny Lloyd).
As Danny is plagued by horrifying visions, Jack suffers a mental breakdown which compels him to commit deeply disturbing violent acts against his family.
Over four decades after the controversial psychological thriller first came out to poor reviews and Stephen declaring he ‘was really disappointed’, its legacy has completely transformed as an enduring classic in the horror cannon.
The behind-the-scenes tales have also made history in their own right, with the film notably entering the Guinness World Record book for ‘most retakes for one scene with dialogue’ after shooting one scene 148 times.
Meanwhile, the notorious bathroom scene in which Wendy is forced to defend herself using a butcher’s knife birthed the iconic moment where Jack sticks his head through the axed-down door and shouts ‘Here’s Johnny!’.
The late Shelley, who died aged 75 earlier this month, told the BBC back in 1980 about the arduous filming process.
‘My stamina has increased so much since The Shining,’ she said at the time. ‘The role required me to cry, all day long, every day – it was so difficult being hysterical for that length of time.’
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the actor further expanded on how she mustered the emotional capacity.
‘You just think about something very sad in your life or how much you miss your family or friends. But after a while, your body rebels. It says: “Stop doing this to me. I don’t want to cry every day,”‘ she said.
‘And sometimes just that thought alone would make me cry. To wake up on a Monday morning, so early, and realize that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled — I would just start crying.’
After it was released the film saw no critical acclaim and even scored two Razzie nominations for worst director and worst actress (although the founder later regretted the OG scream queen’s nom).
Over the years critic reviews have retrospectively praised the film, giving it a firm standing of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and a place in cinematic history as a must-watch for any film buff.
‘Trust Kubrick to be different: this horror film chills rather than shocks, works by stealth and provides nothing but eerie discomfort,’ the Radio Times wrote in its five-star review.
Time magazine hailed it a ‘masterpiece’, GQ as ‘genre-defining’, while Empire added: ‘It manages to traverse a complex world of incipient madness, spectral murder and supernatural visions… and also makes you jump.’