The Shining: Book vs Movie?

[Rondio]

I'd have to say that with "The Shining," an exception has to be made for the "movie pales in comparison to the book" rule.

Yes, the book is one of King's best and creepiest stories. The movie, while based off King's ideas, definitely goes down a different path and paints a different story. It is very difficult for a hard-core Stephen King fan (which I am and have been for a couple decades) to separate the two works of art...

If you can do that, though: They are both exceptional works. The book is one of the purest, most terrifying and sobering "haunted house" stories ever written. Sobering, because it embeds the "booginess" with real human drama. But the movie, while not true to the book, is a masterpiece. I mean, if you were to collect the top 100 most famous and indelible scenes from the history of cinema, how many horror movies would even show up on the list? The movie, while potentially an affront to the integrity of the book, is damn near the best horror movie ever made. "Redrum," "Here's Johnny," and "Come play with us Danny, come play with us forever, and ever and ever"....

I love the book. I also love the movie. If I had written the book, I wouldn't love the movie. But as I had little to do with either works of art (aside from being an eager and grateful recipient)...I love them both.

[first edition]

Sorry all, I have to disagree with nearly everyone. I LOVE the book, The Shining. L O V E. THe movie cannot be judged by the book. It is too dissimilar. The book that SK wrote works on the page perfectly, but on film? The bushes coming alive on film, could you have imagined that in 1980? And don't even get me started on the Steven Weber TV version. I understand why Uncle Stevie didn't like certain aspects and the casting of Jack as , well...Jack. I know it is supposed to be more terrifying when someone who is a normal guy undergoes the changes Jack Torrence is supposed to, but for the film Stanley set out to make, Jack was the ONLY choice. There is a reason the film is called Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and not Stephen King's. In this case, it is not fair to compare.

[guido tkp]

read the book, back in the day (when it was released) loved it...

saw the movie, opening day: loved it

separate animals...no movie can EVER do a book, with all its richness, true justice...but it can capture the 'feel', and kubrick did that in spades.

never understood, and still don't, kings aversion. probably is as much that de palma, with 'carrie', had just done a very straight retelling of his tale and king had expectations (?really !?) of that with 'the shining', too.
...could just be a latent 'just-don't-like-nicholson' thing.

just re-read the book, recently: kubrick captures the essence of the whole story far better than the tv version, imho.

movie: scary/creepy...

tv...? notsomuch

[papercut99]

Hello, I'm 14 and new to this site. I read 'The Shining' quite awhile back...its not really fresh in my mind but I remember that I COMPLETELY fell in love with it. Who am I kidding, I ADORED IT! Of course, I love all of King's books. They never fail to amaze me. 'The Shining' (book) was much, much, better than the movie. But I gotta say, the movie was pretty darn good. If you think about it, King wrote the book in I think, and correct if I'm wrong, from 3 different perspectives. The son, Jack, and Wendy. You got to see what they were all going through at the times when they were going through it. He skipped around and I never once got confused by it. For example, he may say Wendy was doing something at 1pm, then a few pages later he would say what Jack was doing at 1pm. I like that about his books.
Now, in the movie, they do the same thing. But in movies they always do that. You get to see what everyone is doing while they're doing it. Now for someone to put that on a page and not get the reader confused on what is going on? Thats talent. So I can't really say what my opinion is on whether the book or movie is the best....
Stephan King did an excellent job on this book. I love his work and plan to keep reading it. I just finished 'Carrie' tonight! I plan to be going to the book store VERY soon and picking up one of his books!!!!

[AndyDufresne]

I'm both a huge fan of Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick, so the aversion between the fans of both people is something I'm definitely not a part of.
Is Kubrick's version completely faithful to King's novel? No. Does it try to be? Also no. Kubrick takes the general plot of the book and transforms it to something completely different. Better? I don't know. If you see the miniseries, Kubrick's version is clearly superior IMHO. That also doesn't mean the material wouldn't have worked on the big screen (or the small screen, for that matter) if the source material was followed more closely. If the miniseries was done by a superior director, then maybe that would have turned out better. A The Shining directed by Frank Darabont? Yes please.
In the end both versions are different enough for me to be able to enjoy both the movie and the novel.
And Kubrick's version also was the movie that introduced me to the written works of Stephen King, because I wanted to read the novel after I saw the movie and was basically scared sh*tless by it.

[Daniel Lee Severn]

I love both of them, but yes the novel is leaps and bounds above the Kubrick movie. Kubrick's vision was pretty awesome but he took a lot of great stuff out of the novel, the T.V. version was definitely closer to the book but the acting was terrible. I wanted to punch that kid that played Danny in the T.V. version right in the face, he was so annoying.

[Glanderence]

The Shining movie edition happens to be my favorite movie of all time. Yet I'm currently reading the Novel, so I'm pretty much caught between both. But I have to say, the Novel expresses details the movie couldn't provide. But what do I know about the Novel? I'm only on the 300th or so page! Until I finnish it, I'm biased upon the movie..

[TheHMC]

I've read The Shining 3 times(at different times in my life) and have to say that it's one of my favorite Stephen King books of all time. That's not saying much though, because I say that about pretty much every SK book that I read. He's definitely in the top 2 when it comes to my favorite authors, and I've been reading his books since I was about 11 years old(I've been a book hound my whole life and happened upon Mr. King early on, all thanks to my horror-loving uncles.)

I saw the movie first, when I was younger. I've always liked it. It's a good flick whether you've read the book or not. Jack Nicholson...need I say more? After reading the book, I noticed many differences, some of which I wasn't entirely hot on, but overall I've still found the original movie to be well done, and a classic. The book though...that movie doesn't compare in regards to letting yourself fall into the story completely. The way that King can write from Danny's perspective absolutely chilled me to the bone.(Similarly, he wrote from the dog's perspective in Cujo and did a FABULOUS job at it-I could go on for days about what a fan I am of that book because of how he took hold of what the dog was thinking/feeling. I haven't read it in years and I was all of 12 when I read Cujo the first time, but that's something that always stuck out to me...him taking on the rabid dog's perspective. It's like a mocha frappucino with all the flavor and goodness, but none of the fat and calories). He has a knack for that kind of writing and I LOVE that about him. Makes him a bit different.

There is just no comparison, like others have mentioned. The original movie and the book are two different animals and you need to understand that before watching/reading either. The book has all these little gold nuggets in it. I don't know how many of you have watched Friends over the years, but there was an episode once where Joey was reading The Shining and he has a tendency to stick the book in the freezer whenever it gets too scary for him. That cracked me up because this book has quite a bit of the creep factor going on. One of my favorite parts is when the Overlook is coming into view and they get out to look at it from an overlook and Danny zones out as he begins to realize that this place is the bad place his 'shining' has been warning him about. The sentences: "It's here. It's here. Whatever redrum is, it's here." (Hope I worded it properly) always gives me the chills. I've even forced my husband to read the whole paragraph because I get all goose-bumpy when I read it. To think of the fear that child would actually feel had this been a realistic situation, King touched on it perfectly and wrote from that boy's perspective like it was no one's business.

As for the mini-series, I have to agree with others. It was great to finally see a better adaptation of what happened in the book, but the movie just fell flat. and that kid they got for it...GAH! He was awful...I was happy to see him drop off the TV screen the past several years. I never liked him in anything I saw him in. Not that I'm all that, but that kid...nah. That Weber dude is usually awesome in most things he does, but this movie...it just wasn't as great as I was hoping it would be. I loved that they stuck closer to the book than they did in the 1st movie, but, again...the movie just fell flat with some of the acting.

[hustle111]

differences between the book and movie were more more than I anticipated... these are just a few

-book doesn't have "all work and no play make jack a dull boy"

-of course the hedge animals

-halloran lives! i was shocked when I read the book and he didn't die... and then floored when he even considered murder when he was briefly in the shed

-the hotel doesn't blow up in the kubrick

-roque mallet book, axe movie

-no encounter with the twins in the hallway for danny as was in the kubrick

-no river of blood as there was for wendy

-roger the dog did not provide fellatio to derwent

-no elevator craziness with party confetti and snake fire extinguisher in the movie

-no george hatfield in the movie

-no "here's johnny"

-and perhaps the biggest, the way Jack dies is drastically different

-no maze in the book

-no bathroom window escape in the book. Danny instead is forced to face his father (or what has become of him)

[Jema]

The book 100% hands down.I think everybody agrees with the saying "The book's always better then the movie" - movies don't let me see and feel the things that the book does.