The Shining vs The Shining

[Mikey]

Was just watching The Shining (1980 movie).

Never realized how empty it was until I seen the 1997 TV miniseries.

After seeing the TV miniseries when I watch the 1980 movie I feel i'm watching something that's unfinished and incomplete.

[Hector]

While it does not follow the book faithfully, I prefer the Kubrick movie...to me, the emptiness of it all is what makes it creepy to me, very atmospheric, and creepy.

[SainthoodDenied]

I know it's blasphemy for some people to hear this but I also like the 97 remake better. I really enjoyed watching it the first time it came on t.v.

[Starroid Raiders Dagon]

Is the 97 one the mini with the guy from the WINGS TV series? The one where he shows up as a ghost at the end (was it at a church for a wedding or something?)?? I loved the Kubrick version which led me to the book which I loved as well and the little differences. Still watch the Kubrick version when I come across it on tv. Great horror film.

[Nostalgiabuff]

they both have their good moments but yeah I prefer the 97 mini too. the only thing I did not really like was the actor they cast as Danny. I both on DVD and we do watch both versions occasionally

[Gorn Captain]

I didn't like the movie because of Nicholson. You know he's crazy from the moment you see him. In the book, there's a gradual decline of his mental state, which is hard to believe with Nicholson playing the part.

[Goblin19]

Totally agree on the way Nicholson plays it. He's already too nuts in the beginning.

[Starroid Raiders Dagon]

One of the members said this in a review of the tv mini-series, "However, seeing his films make one realize that King has quite a different opinion on the delivery of his work, as opposed to the darker opinions of his readers.", and I have felt this to be true for years. I gather that a lot of readers' minds go a lot darker when reading King' horror than how he envisions a live enactment.

[Mikey]

The miniseries explained a lot of even tiny stuff that the movie left me scratching my head about.

Right down to Danny "calling" Dick Hallorann.

In the movie I thought Danny was just spazzing.

Also, it's a complete turnaround of plot to have the ghosts actually after Danny and just using Jack Torrance as a tool.

Knowing this everything makes a lot more sense.

Having the boiler blow up was a lot more dramatic too -- and again made more sense than just having Jack freeze with a funny face.

I also liked Rebecca De Mornay's portrayal of Wendy a lot better than Olive Oil.

Rebecca was way more realistic and not a stereotypical cowering dingbat.

[Nostalgiabuff]

plus Rebecca is smoking hot

[Mikey]

plus Rebecca is smoking hot

Ohhh yes

She's still hot today well into her 50's

[Gorn Captain]

I can no longer stomach recent Stephen King novels. They've become so depressing.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I can no longer stomach recent Stephen King novels. They've become so depressing.

really? interesting. I still enjoy his novels. he has a masterful way, and always has, of making his characters very relatable and easy to become invested in. I have even been enjoying his latest trilogy of crime novels, which it looks like are moving into scifi/horror for the 3rd and final book

[Gorn Captain]

really? interesting. I still enjoy his novels. he has a masterful way, and always has, of making his characters very relatable and easy to become invested in. I have even been enjoying his latest trilogy of crime novels, which it looks like are moving into scifi/horror for the 3rd and final book

I find there's a new level of darkness and gloom to them. I don't always need a happy ending, but with the later ones you just know "they're all gonna die horribly!"
I think I started noticing that with Tommyknockers, and it never got better. In the end, I stopped reading King.
I'm going to start re-reading his older books, getting my favorites in hardcover.

I think that King started going "dark" when his own life got harder: his eyesight deteriorating, the car accident,...

[mjaycox]

The 97 miniseries was, like most King TV adaptations with the exception of the Tobe Hooper "'Salem's Lot", over-explained, dull, poorly acted and as scary as lukewarm spaghetti.

It was so damn slavishly faithful to the novel, it should have been issued with a scantron sheet so I could check off the bubbles for each scene. When King himself shows up as the ghostly bandleader in the second night, I was seriously like "fffffuuuuuuuuuuuuu*** you". While trying to make sure it hit all the points, it forgot to be scary.

I'll admit that Jack was too nuts from the beginning in the Kubrick version. But that is my only quibble. The movie is a fantastic series of images and set-pieces, and there is nothing in the '97 miniseries to equal the images of the:

-Elevator doors opening
-The Twins in the hallway
-The steadicam shots through the hedgemaze.
-The initial approach to the hotel over the credits
-Redrum in the mirror

Nor is there any scene of tension in the '97 series that approaches the suspense of:

-The assault on the family in the bathroom
- The ball rolling down the hallway to Danny
- Jack's pursuit of Wendy up the stairs

Last, there is nothing in the '97 series tha even comes close the replicating the brilliance of this scene:

Matt