7. Jack Torrance - The Shining (1980)
Jack Torrance is a teacher and writer whose volatile temper and alcoholism made him lose his job at a prep school. He retreats to the Coloradan hotel The Overlook to get away from the booze and to write a play. He is accompanied by his wife and young son. They are to look after the hotel for the duration of the winter and a snow in. Things are not good. Jack succumbs to cabin fever and the hotel itself seems to be possessed by a demonic entity which makes things worse. He begins to drink again and lets the demonic forces into his mind which tells him to hate his family. Jack interacts with the ghosts of the hotel who tell him he must kill his family to get a managerial position. Growing more and more demented Jack goes after Wendy his wife. She locks him into a storage room but a ghost helps him escape. Wendy realises that Jack has cut off all communications to the outside world and she is alone. Jack gets out and comes after her with a mallet. He chases Danny his son into a maze but Danny escapes and Jack is left to freeze to death. So was Jack a bonafide psycho waiting to happen or did the Overlook Hotel send him barmy?