10 Most Disappointing Stephen King Movies
3. The Shining
In 36 years, King has never reversed his opinion of Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation: for all of the filmmaker’s mastery of technique, there’s nothing at the core of the film. Instead of telling the story of an Everyman who gradually goes mad, Kubrick casts Jack Nicholson, who even in his first scene looks like an escapee from Arkham Asylum.
When Nicholson goes off the wall, talking to ghosts and flashing his shark-like grin before chasing his wife and son with an axe, it’s not much of a surprise, so the rest of the picture is a succession of scenes where the actor goes further and further over the top. At 142 minutes, the movie runs longer than 2001: A Space Odyssey, so there are lots of these scenes.
By Kubrick’s request, The Shining was originally released in the UK (the filmmaker’s adopted home) at 119 minutes, which dispenses with most of the build up to Hallorann’s return to the Overlook. In the uncut version, the character spends so long returning to the hotel (only to be killed almost immediately) that the sequence becomes unintentionally funny.