Mind Coffee: ‘The Shining’ book vs. the film — book wins hands down

I have only seen the movie version of “The Shining” once, when it first hit movie theaters in 1980.

Shawn Ryan

I was so excited. Not only was it one of my favorite books – which celebrates the 40th birthday of its publication Saturday – I also was a huge fan of director Stanley Kubrick.

I left the theater knowing one thing: I hated the movie.

Kubrick took what was a truly terrifying story that blended the supernatural and the psychological and turned it into a visually interesting but mostly bland film that, after all is said and done, was mostly a chase film with Jack Nicholson wielding an ax while Shelley Duvall screamed her head off. What’s the most famous scene in the film? Nicholson cutting through a door and saying, “Here’s Johnny!” More humor than horror.

Sure, there were supernatural elements in the movie, but Kubrick treated them almost as afterthoughts because he was more interested in the psychological elements, the breakdown of a man’s mind, an angle that King addressed in the book but only as one of the elements.