Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film “The Shining,” based 100% faithfully on a novel by Stephen King and leading to no contentious reactions from the author whatsoever, takes place in a remote Colorado hotel called the Overlook. The hotel was built so high up in the mountains that it has to close for the winter, as snowfall makes the roads to the hotel undriveable. Every winter, the Overlook hires a caretaker to ensure the furnaces stay lit and the property is at least somewhat maintained. This means that the caretaker and their family will have to remain there for months, cut off from the rest of the world. This story takes place decades before the inception of the internet, so it’s a challenge to find things to do. Loneliness and cabin fever are most assuredly going to set in eventually.
“The Shining” posits two questions. One: What if a recovering alcoholic writer with a temper (Jack Nicholson) has to take care of the Overlook? Will his sobriety be maintained? And two: What if there was an eerie, bloodthirsty, ghostly presence inside the Overlook that seems to be beckoning the caretaker toward violence and murder? This is going to end badly for someone.
At the beginning of “The Shining,” as the hotel staff are packing up to go, the Torrance family is given a tour. They are shown a large hedge maze, the hotel’s game room, its oversized kitchen, and its other amenities. Curiously, the Torrances are not given the hotel’s largest, most luxurious room to sleep in…