The Shining - Stephen King

This isn't exactly a review. It is part novel review, part movie review and why I wouldn't hesitate to watch movies based on King's work without reading the novels they are based on, hereon.

The Shining - the novel: A long work, the book is titled on the "born talent" that Danny Torrence has - that of psychic premonitions, ability to listen to conversations out of his earshot and peeking into other's minds. He's schizophrenic too, and  this talent is being presented to us as "The Shining". While the genre of the book is horror, there are unmistakable use of psychology throughout the book While as a whole,  the novel, the plot and the segments of thriller work, I found it rather far fetched the moment the long dead spirits intervened with the living, through physical actions. For example opening the larder door for Jack Torrence in which he's been locked in. Its as if somewhere deep down in my brain there is some understanding that the paranormal can affect you mentally, and could haunt you but for them to do physical activity makes whatever slim chance of them being real, even far more remote. So that's when the book doesn't work for me. The other part was the hedge animals - a total No-No I felt. Thankfully Kubrick has traded the hedge animals to the hedge labyrinth - a much better, believable choice which plays a pivotal role in the movie, in contrast to the rather unbelievable role that the so called hedge animals play in the novel.

I would've probably enjoyed  Kubrick's movie better, had I not read the book. The book while being more descriptive, and more gory with Jack using the  mallet axe to good effect,  is almost a good match in the intensity of horror. For, the movie has the advantage of sound and color, not to mention the expert use of the camera. In that sense, King would've done well to limit the "far fetched" scenes of horror - but then, I do grant that those incidents could appear more believable to other readers.

On trivia to round off this small write-up; It is reported that Mr. King was less than happy with movie production of his novel. For, there are fundamental differences in the movie to make it almost  original. The ending scene which shows a 1924 photo of the participants of a Ball, in which a Jack Torrence look alike is present, leaves the audience contemplating whether there is another angle to the whole horror psychology being presented here. This was a path that King didn't thread upon at all. Another point is that The Stanley, a hotel in close proximity to the Rockies  with some rumours about it, is the basis for the grand hotel in the book and the movie - The Overlook. And Stephen King and his wife had spent one night there - as its only guests there, and the plot for the book has come to the  author then. (It is even said that some of the battles that King was fighting were same as what Jack Torrence was).

In conclusion, I could say that while I enjoyed "The Shining" largely, it is very unlikely that I will indulge in more of his novels. Movies based on his books are another matter.