Today is Halloween, and it’s also the birthday of the most important person in my life, or at least one of them, my beautiful sister. And she mentioned not that long ago that she loves The Shining, and will watch it anytime it is on TV. So today’s movies are in honor of her.
The movie is about a hotel, and a family who decides to winter there and take care of the property. The Overlook Hotel was not a designated hotel for the skiing crowd, it is pretty remote and impossible to get to in the winter. However, that is the allure for novelist Jack Torrance and his family.
Jack has been having a severe writer’s block, his son Danny had a seizure when talking to an imaginary friend, and his wife Wendy is looking forward to them all healing while at the hotel.
Upon arriving, the head chef recognizes that Danny is telepathic, and has the ability to ‘shine’. Danny in turn reading the thoughts in the chef’s head asks about room 237. He is told that the images he sees are like pictures in a book, but is strongly warned to stay out of that room.
Soon after they take over, Jack begins to loose touch with realty. Wendy tries to keep to the duties required as caretaker, and Danny keeps seeing the Grady girls who were murdered in the hotel by their father several years before when he was caretaker, and fell victim to cabin fever.
Danny has a seizure and during this he telepathically connects to the head chef and he has concerns about what is occurring. Danny then enters room 237, and later emerges with bruises around his neck and a torn shirt. Wendy suspects Jack of doing it. Later Wendy finds Jack in the hotel bar, and asks him to look into room 237. But what does Jack find? (No spoilers here folks! Watch the movie to find out!)
Jack’s grasp on reality is slipping even more, Wendy learns how mad he has become. Armed with a baseball bat, she plans to leave the hotel with Danny regardless of what Jack says.
Jack says he isn’t going to hurt her….he intends to kill her. Will Jack fulfill his promise of killing Wendy and ultimately Danny? Will the chef, get to the Overlook Hotel in time to help save Danny?
The Shining stars:
- Jack Nicholson – Jack Torrance
- Shelly Duvall – Wendy Torrance
- Danny Lloyd – Danny Torrance
- Scatman Crothers – Hallorann
- Phillip Stone – Grady
- Joe Turkel – Lloyd
I hope that you love this movie as much as my sister, the original queen of horror in my family. Happy Halloween Birthday J.R.Y.!!!
Amateur Connoisseur 