10 Horror Movie Villains With Surprisingly Boring Day Jobs

The original gainfully employed ghoul, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes the monster beneath the man all thanks to his monotonous day job, as the winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980).

Torrance, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic, moves his wife and son, Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and Danny (Danny Lloyd) into the resort in the Colorado Rockies, with nothing but a bit of fresh air, open space and writing time on his mind. Jack cracks on, giving the typewriter a good thrashing, and Wendy and Danny are left to entertain themselves, discovering the mysteries of the hotel.

But it is simply not true that all work and no play make Jack a very dull boy – quite the opposite, in fact. Tedium, isolation and a profound air of boredom lead Jack down a dangerous path, and his writing takes on a manic and repetitive hue, going absolutely nowhere. So, as any failed writer worth their salt is wont to do, he hits the bottle – and the ghosts of the Overlook emerge.

Whether Jack's psychosis is a symptom of his work, the hotel itself or something buried within himself is hard to know, but suffice to say, the monotony of his day job does not help one bit, tempting him into the warm and welcoming depths of madness.