10 Best Films About Writer's Block

The Shining was Stephen King's third released novel and second film adaptation (the first being Carrie). It's also the one he has the most problems with. Whereas the book's Jack Torrance – a recovering alcoholic (get your Stephen King checklist out now) was tasked with being caretaker of a resort hotel in Colorado – slowly going mad by the hotel's any ghosts, cabin fever and personal temptations, King felt that Jack Nicholson brought immediate insanity to the role.

Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic suffering from writer's block who holes up with his family in a Colorado Hotel off-season. Of course, when it's revealed all he's written the entire winter is less than inspirational, it's most definitely terrifying.

The differences between King and director Stanley Kubrick are well-documented, rooted mainly in King's Christianity and Kubrick's atheism. Nevertheless, it's considered one of the scariest films ever made. And if one has seen the King-scripted bore of a miniseries produced in 1997, they'd be glad he kept his distance from Kubrick's vision.