The Shining (1980) movie poster

The Shining (1980)

"A masterpiece of modern horror."
ThumbScore
👍 88%Google users liked it ⓘ
Critics Score
🎬 76%
HorrorThriller

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Where to Watch

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Director
Runtime
2h 24m
Rated
R
Country
United Kingdom, United States of America
Language
English
TMDB Rating
8.2/10 (18,695 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes
84%
Metacritic
68

Cast

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance · 76% avg
Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance · 71% avg
Danny Lloyd as Danny
Scatman Crothers as Hallorann · 78% avg
Barry Nelson as Ullman
Philip Stone as Grady
Joe Turkel as Lloyd · 80% avg
Anne Jackson as Doctor

Is The Shining good?

Yes. 88% of real audiences liked it, by Google's archived audience score. Critics gave it 76%.

Where it ranks on ThumbScore

Rank in its genre
#67 / 1168 · Horror
Rank in its year
#5 / 30 · 1980
Rank among its director's films
#2 / 13 · Stanley Kubrick

By audience score, among films with 500 or more votes.

Overview

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within. Wikipedia ↗

About the Film

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King's 1977 novel. The film stars Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic and aspiring writer who accepts a position as the winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies, bringing his wife Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall, and his psychically gifted young son Danny. As months of snowbound isolation take their toll, the hotel's malevolent supernatural forces exploit Jack's psychological vulnerabilities, driving him toward murderous madness.

The Shining is widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made, though it was initially met with mixed critical reception — it was even nominated for Worst Director at the inaugural Razzie Awards. Over the decades, the film's reputation has grown enormously, with its meticulous visual composition, unsettling atmosphere, and Jack Nicholson's unhinged performance becoming touchstones of the genre. Kubrick's production methods were notoriously demanding — he subjected his cast to an extraordinary number of takes, with the baseball bat scene between Nicholson and Duvall reportedly requiring 127 takes, leaving Duvall physically and emotionally exhausted.

Stephen King himself was famously critical of the adaptation, feeling Kubrick had stripped away the novel's empathy for Jack Torrance. The film's imagery — the twins in the corridor, the blood-filled elevator, the hedge maze — has become permanently embedded in popular culture. The Steadicam work by Garrett Brown, following young Danny on his Big Wheel through the hotel's corridors, revolutionized horror cinematography.

The Shining earned $44 million worldwide against a $19 million budget and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

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