10 Great Horror Movies Made By Non-Horror Directors
9. The Shining - Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick is a filmmaking auteur whose name is synonymous with the best movies that the industry has to offer. Since his first film, 1955’s Killer’s Kiss, Kubrick has ventured into many different genres throughout his career from Sci-Fi to Period Drama to Crime Thriller, and his films are always regarded as the greatest of those genres.
In 1980, Kubrick put his hand to the horror genre with what remains to this day as one of the greatest horror films ever made: The Shining. Despite his lack of experience in the genre, his knowledge of cinematic structure and visual impact made The Shining one of the most powerful movies of its era.
Despite all this success, however, it is well documented that Stephen King, writer of the original novel, was deeply unsatisfied with Kubrick’s version since Kubrick rewrote a lot of King’s original plot. In 1997, King wrote a teleplay that was more faithful to his original story, which was then adapted into a TV mini-series. However, he couldn’t replicate what made Kubrick’s adaptation so memorably frightening.
Kubrick only made two more films after The Shining before he died in 1999, but his one and only horror film in his repertoire still frightens horror fans to this day judging by its inclusion on many ‘Greatest Horror Films Ever Made’ lists.