According to King, The Shining’s failure to emulate the atmosphere of the source novel means that the 1980 adaptation doesn’t tell a story. However, King’s criticisms of Kubrick fail to reckon with why the director made this change. King is not wrong to note that Kubrick’s version of the story is cool, dispassionate, and clinical, whereas the original novel is more emotionally involved. In Kubrick’s movie, he freezes to death.” Near the end of the novel, Jack Torrance tells his son that he loves him, and then he blows up with the hotel. The basic difference that tells you all you need to know is the ending. You’ve taken away its primary purpose, which is to tell a story. You can’t do anything with it except admire it as sculpture. I used to call it a Cadillac with no engine in it. “ t’s certainly beautiful to look at: gorgeous sets, all those Steadicam shots. Per The Paris Review, King stated in 2001 that: Long before director Mike Flanagan’s The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep attempted to follow up both Kubrick’s movie and King’s novel in one story, King clarified his thoughts on the 1980 adaptation in an interview. Kubrick’s version of The Shining might not be the movie that King wanted, but it is still a valid and daring interpretation of King’s deeply personal novel. In this regard, King is wrong about the director’s take on the material. In an infamously harsh comment to The Paris Review, King claimed that he doubted whether Kubrick ever even read The Shining. While King’s own miniseries adaptation of The Shining was less successful than its cinematic counterpart, this didn’t change the author’s opinion of the Kubrick movie and time did not do a lot to soften King’s take on 1980’s version of The Shining. Related: Pennywise Proves Salem’s Lot Release Date Move Is Bad News As Kubrick’s enigmatic interpretation of The Shining became more popular with critics and horror fans alike over the coming decades and became seen as a formative text in the genre, King softened his criticism a little by admitting that the movie had a certain aesthetic appeal, but he remained adamant that Kubrick threw away the story of his novel and made a movie that was effectively unrelated to the book. The author was infamously vocal about his hatred of Kubrick’s The Shining adaptation after the movie was released to mixed reviews, claiming that the blackly comedic horror profoundly missed the point of his acclaimed novel. However, earlier in his career, King was not as keen to pull his punches.

Stephen kings the shining