Wendy stop hogging the bathroom. Oh, hello beautiful watchers. So what are you doing in there with Wendy?
Noel doesn't matter I suppose welcome back to lost in adaptation. This is the shining
The works of Stephen King a voice seemed to me to exist in that Goldilocks zone of writing necessary to constantly become best-selling
Sensations being just creepy enough that it draws you in but not enough that it scares people off being creative enough to intrigue people
But not so much that it easily
Confuses and being well-written enough to involve some truly inspired descriptions and metaphors but not so stylized that ever alienate any particular
Demographic despite this highly successful format for writing his books
He hasn't had much luck with film adaptations of his work
concepts that
literally seemed good on paper often revealed themselves to be somewhat goofy and lucky in death when portrayed on the big screen one of the
Most notable exceptions to this was the shining directed by Stanley Q
We received a lukewarm reception on initial release but has since then become one of those movies. That's so iconic
You can probably piece together a complete version of it form all the different parodies that have sprung up over the years
Despite this Stephen King
Reportedly did not care for the film at all so much so that he told them he was going to make his own shining movie
And it was gonna have blackjack and hookers
the end result is you've probably already seen in the astounded critics review of it was the shining miniseries a
Three-part TV movie that was way more accurate to the original story, but unfortunately way less entertaining in every conceivable way
I'm not actually planning to bring up the miniseries again for the rest of this review
Suffice to say if you've seen it, you probably won't be surprised by much of what I'm about to describe to you
Okay, let's be about it. Shall we?
You know regardless of how mr. King feels is actually a good deal of the book in the film a
Former teacher named Jack gets a job as a winter
Caretaker of a remote mountain hotel a position that will leave him his wife and kids stranded and snowed in miles from help for months
On end his five-year-old son
Danny isn't so keen on the idea because he appears to possess a strange psychic ability that lets him read people's thoughts and see the
Future and his power has shown him that the hotel is not a very nice place indeed
This is confirmed by the hotel's friendly cook who also possesses this ability to a less extent
Anyone standing to avoid certain areas of the building for being more haunted than others fingers go
Okay at first but Jack soon starts acting very strangely in the whole family start seeing things that couldn't possibly be there
It's eventually revealed that the hotel itself is a will of its own and has been altering people's
minds for decades driving them to horrible acts of
Murder-suicide so we can absorb their souls into itself jack eventually gives in to the madness and tries to offer his family
But fortunately fails miserably in the attempt downing his mother cheese it out to the hotel and Jack dies horribly the end
Let's see
What else in both versions Jack is a recovering?
Alcoholic trying to turn his life around and finish writing a play that he's been working on since forever
Wendy's attempts to make the best of an abusive marriage a superhuman child or a big part of her character in both the film and
The book both Dan is a young boys who due to that unique gifts are burdened with a greater understanding
Of what was going on at the hotel and had to take home responsibilities far beyond their years in both incarnations
Halloran is a good-natured confident
African-american who is selfless enough to fly halfway across the country and put his life on the line to help out a boy
He only met for a few hours
the previous caretaker of the hotel getting a posthumous change of profession to drinks waiter was an original plot points and so was the ghost
Party that Jack gate crashes, although it was referenced a lot more in the novel
So yeah, there's more than enough loyalty to the book that I have no issues with its sharing its title
I wish I could go as far as to say that I think king overreacted but
You know
It seems like all the most iconic stuff was a cubic addition the blood elevator that goes twins the hedge maze
Danny's big wheel jacks repetitive declarations of the danger of a poor work to play ratio the photo at the end
None of it was in the book. That's not to say the book didn't have creepy stuff. It was just
Different creepy stuff Stuart Ullman is a friendly welcoming man in the film. He was a massive massive asshole in the book
Just the worst imagine every full of himself
Micromanaging woud right to your face boss you've ever had all rolled up into one that Solman in the book
What's in the summertime care take it was a grumpy foul-mouthed casual racist homophobe with a heart of gold
He barely features in the film and what little you see of him seems to be well-dressed and polite Tony Tony, Tony
What happened to you Tony? So you're all probably familiar with the cookie voiced Wiggly finger version of him
however
It may surprise you to hear that Kubrick pulled back right out of his ass, Tony
Manifested himself as a boy a few years older than Danny who came to him in his dreams always appearing off in the distance
So he couldn't be seen clearly it's hinted for awhile that he's a ghost because around the middle of the story
He's driven off from the hotel by the other spirits in his last appearance in the book
He finally approaches Danny and is revealed to be
Danny or at least Danny as he will look in a few years when he's older and
Explains that he's a part of Danny's own subconscious mind
He does the same sort of stuff as he does in the film trying to warn the boy off going to the Overlook by showing
Him visions of the future but that's the only real similarity and then you have dick hallorann
As you can see he comes to a somewhat sticky and painful end here in the film but in the book
He takes a good beating from Jack but survives and recovers enough to pick up Dan in windy and drives him away from the hotel
In his snowmobile. I can just picture that particular studio meeting now still good to meet you big fan of your work
It's so nice to meet you too. Well, we're looking forward to working on the film of you
I do have to talk to you first though about the little mistake you made in the book
Mistake yeah in chapter 53 you accidentally wrote that the black guy doesn't die who Haller?
Yeah
He fights his way to the hotel rescues the wife and kid becomes a surrogate father
Did that even then are you know Steve you wrote that the black guy doesn't die. So
You know what don't worry about it, we'll fix it for ya
The hotel having been built on a Native American burial ground the blink and you'll miss it
explanation the film gives as to why shit gets supernatural and the Overlook is not in the book the building's just
Nasty because it's nasty
They do mention a few other
Interesting goings-on in the hotel's history though in the film Jack gave up booze off to injured his son when the book he went
Right on drinking for years after that
what eventually inspired him to get on the wagon was him and his drinking buddy running over a kids abandoned bicycle one night and the
Disturbing implications of what might have happened if the owner had been on it's at the time. Ah
The Lloyd the spirit bartender scene
This is a bit of a confusing one in the book the first time Lloyd appears to give Jack a drink
It's made very clear that Jack is just imagining the whole thing to cheer himself up
Lloyd then becomes more real later on as the hotel gains power and the whole thing serves to
significantly blur the lines of reality for Jack in the film
He's either a straight-up ghost right from the start or jack is batshit crazy right from the start of a lovely little crumpet that Jack
makes out with in the bathroom isn't in the book the
shitting pants inducing zombie version who chokes the shit out of Danny is but she doesn't have a visually appealing form to slip into
Great stories, dude, just wait, but I can't have a feeling that certain sexy edge, you know
Like a beautiful woman showering naked or something
Well, there's the scene where there's the make it up Lenny decomposing in the bathtub, but there's no way you could make that sexy, right?
Right to any of my beautiful watchers whose hands are even now poised over your keyboards to defend the character of Stanley Kubek and his
Associates fear not I am only kidding. I'm actually quite impressed that he realized the only thing worse than seeing
This monstrosity would be being tricked into snogging it in. The book. Jack doesn't actually see anything at all
He loses his nerve and legs it out of the room before the ghosts can get out of the tub
They also explained who the fuck she was in the book being the ghost of a middle-aged lady who committed suicide after being
Jilted by her young lover in the film Jack sabotages the radio to stop Wendy from being able to call for help
But in the book he hasn't quite reached that level of crazy yet
he
Accidentally destroys the radio in a fit of panic as his abusive father's voice starts coming out of it and having a go at him
Jack's murder weapon of choice differs from
He originally armed himself with a rock mallet. It's kind of like croquet, but you don't play it on grass
It doesn't matter. I have to wonder why as it was mentioned that there was a fire axe available
Maybe just didn't have enough skill points an axe wielding
cubic once stated that the photo at the end was supposed to him that Jack was either a
Reincarnation of what the hotel's previous managers or an escaped ghost made flesh being brought back home
I'm afraid that's another cubic original the fan fairy that Jack's ghost has now become part of the hotel is actually much closer to the
Way things were in the novel unlike in the film where Jack really commits to murdering his wife and kid in the book
It's made very clear that Jack doesn't actually want to do any of it and it's being controlled by the evil supernatural
Hive mind of the hotel when Jack's mind starts fighting through and tries to stop himself from killing Danny the Overlook forces him to bash
His old face in killing him so we can take full control of his corpse
I can see why Stephen King hated the film's interpretation of Jack in particular a subject that leads us nicely into
Two words beautiful watches character development the book has it
The film does not King pulled paragraph after paragraph
Into building up the backstories of all his cast you learn about the whole damn lives of Jack Wendy Danny and even Halloran then on
top of that
They all get their own story arcs for major changes and payoffs at the end
Before he goes completely crazy jack comes to terms of his past in his drinking problem
Wendy finds her hidden strength within her danny has the coming of age story and Halloran makes peace with his mortality
Also book jack started off as a loving devoted father and good intentioned husband making his slow fall to the dark side all the more
Unexpected and upsetting and Jack Nicholson's Jack is a dick to his wife and a creep to her son pretty much from day one
I'm honestly not even convinced that the hotel had a hand in him going batshit crazy as he seems completely
Capable of doing it all by himself
They mentioned that Jack was a teacher in the film, but they left out
The reason why he wasn't anymore
Namely that he had beaten the shit out of one of his students when he caught him in the act of slashing his car tires
Jack's recurring guilt over this plays a large part on the novel the film skips pretty quickly into winter
but the book covers a large amount of autumn and Wendy and Danny's constant agonize ation over the decision of whether they should leave the
hotel now before the snow comes and traps them there just enough weird shit had happened that they really really
But the job was Jack's last chance of getting his life back on track
So they had a very good reason to stay as I hinted at before the book includes a few interesting things about the overlooks past
That didn't feature in the film the most noteworthy of which is probably that it briefly fell into the hands of the mall then became
a hangout for Las Vegas bigwigs this
culminated in a rather violent hit taking place in the Presidential Suite one of the recurring themes in the book was the
Hedge animals two lions a dog and a rabbit coming to life every now and again and trying to attack and kill people
At first they clearly move in a way that was reminiscent of the weeping
Angels from Doctor Who ie when you were stupid enough to look away from them when you looked back they'd be significantly closer
But later on they start moving freely and chasing people around the gardens and even leaving the hotel grounds to intercept people on the way
There sometimes it's really hard to figure out why certain things didn't make it into the film
This is not one of those times hedges are not and never will be particularly. Scary. Mr. King
I'm sorry wasps also keep popping up in the book either in flashbacks to significant events in multiple people's lives as
metaphors for Jack's life as a whole and the hive mind of the hotel and
Also as literal fucking wasps while renovating the hotel booth jack comes across a large nest and receives some nasty sting
Which incidentally sends him into 40 minutes of Sonic introspection. Yes. It's that kind of novel
He uses poison gas to kill all the wasps then gives the empty nest to his son as a gift
Danny likes it and puts it next to his bed only for the nest to magically we filled with wasps at same night and attack
Everyone a because this is any film other than June. We miss out on hearing Jack's internal monologue and to be completely honest
I don't miss it
the man changes his mind so often on whether he blames his
alcoholism on himself on the booze on his dad on his wife or on the universe in general it gets a little tiresome after a
While once again, I must humbly request that you restrain your commenting hands beautiful Watchers
I'm aware that King was working through his own issues vicariously through his character
But you know that doesn't actually make it any less annoying in the film Wendy and Jack never really fully acknowledged Danny's powers
But in the book there was a scene in the kitchen that takes place shortly after the bathtub lady incident where they finally get it
All out in the open now Danny you're not in any trouble. I just wanted to be completely honest with us. Do you have magic?
Yes, daddy. Oh
Okay, I don't think they explained very well on the film that the reason they overlooked was becoming so progressively activist because it was feeding
off Danny shining power most of the time with only Holloman and some other people with weak abilities power it it could only show people
disturbing flashes of horrible things that had happened in the past
But with Wonder Boy there to juice it up the ghost could actually start touching people and creating things like booze out of thin air
everything it does to Jack is part of a larger plan to kill Danny and absorb his power into itself who have Danny's Souls a
permanent feature of the Overlook
It could spread its influence even to people without any shining power or even extend its evil out of its own boundaries
It might even take over the world. I
Said take over the world. I
Guess you have to earn it. Yeah, Hal Owen wishes. He was chilling in bed when he got Danny's message in the book
He was driving a Cadillac down the freeway at high speed in the force of Danny's shining
Scrambles his brain so badly he comes within inches of flying off the road
But the bonk on the head Jack receives in the film is small potatoes
compared to Wendy
Burying a butcher's knife up to the hilt in his back like she did in the novel to use Stephen King's own words the film
Ended in ice the book ended in fire
Right from the start that book foreshadows a disaster involving the hotel's ancient and obsolete boiler which has a
Serious over pressurization issue and has to be attended to at least twice a day every day or it will explode
And take the whole hotel with it
And that's exactly what happens at the end while what used to be Jack chases down around it completely forgets to let off the pressure
Denny mentions it to it at the last moment as a way of distracting it from smashing his little head in
Everyone Scarpas while Overlook Jack runs down to the basement to try to stop it from all going kablamo
It just doesn't make it in time the domes final thoughts. Hmm. Don't get me wrong
I liked the film considering I'm not into horror movies all that much. That's really saying something but I
Kind of see Kings point I really do
I was tempted out first to throw words like Miss casting into play. But Nicholson was perfect for the kind of Jack
The film was portraying this definitely wasn't a failure as an adaptation due to poor directing poor acting or poor scripting
This shit was intentional Stanley cubicle. Sam made me realize I was participating in a frightful double standard in other films
I was disgusted when faced with a myriad of seemingly unnecessary changes
But I found myself trying to think of excuses for them when they showed up in the shining and I was never tempted to yell
My his story your story insult at it
I think I'm self honest enough to admit that what I'm willing to forgive
inevitably hinges on how much I enjoyed the film saw in this episode on a piece of advice for potential book adapters if you're going
to go off and do your own thing make sure it's for a very
very good movie
Hey beautiful watches just wanted to remind you
There's a few perks you can get from becoming a patreon supporter things like early access to videos all shit
You get a chance to be one of those people I contact before every episode to discuss the book and the film did you like
It did you eat it stuff like that. You also get priority request status in future episodes. All right
There is of course no pressure and thank you very much everyone has contributed so far. Okay. I'll see you