They say that a good film can take you places. Today’s Halloween Horrors post will take us to three different places; one fictional and two very real, but all connected by the same story. While the real locations have welcomed quite a few travelers, the fictional location has a legacy that would draw in quite a few guests as well, even though everything they have learned about the place tells them that they should have stayed far away.

Heiko Ramsey rejoins our series today, having previously contributed to this series with his thoughts on Phantasm, Halloween, and “The Munsters”. For this year’s entry, we’ll be treated to a few thoughts on Stephen King’s “The Shining”, both the novel and the film adaptation, as well as a couple pics from locations associated with both versions. 

I hope your bags are packed because it’s time to begin our stay at the Overlook Hotel.

 

 

The Shining. Stephen King’s third novel and second theatrical release. My first memory of The Shining came shortly after the novel’s release in 1977; my step-sister was reading the book and could NOT stop talking about it. I didn’t pay much attention — my horror intake at that point was mostly the Universal Monsters, Abbott and Costello meeting those monsters, and Scooby-Doo.

By May 1980 though, everything had changed. It had been two short years since I had somehow talked my mom into taking me to see my first real horror film, and now I couldn’t get enough of it in my life. Sneaking into horror movies became a frequent pastime for me and my friends. The Shining was one of them.

For those that haven’t seen it (have you been living under a rock?), the story centers around a family of three — Jack, Wendy, and Danny — who end up spending the winter in a hotel that’s closed for the season. Jack is a former English teacher who got fired for assaulting a student, so he takes the job as the hotel’s caretaker in the hopes of some peace and quiet to write his novel. Meanwhile, his son, Danny, is having premonitions of bad things. Danny’s imaginary friend, Tony, warns him to stay away from the place at all costs.

The family arrives as the employees are packing up to leave. The hotel manager takes Jack and Wendy off for a tour, and Danny ends up going with the hotel’s head chef, Dick Halloran. Mr. Halloran starts talking to Danny about “The Shine” and “Shining” — the power that both he and Danny share. Ultimately, the family are left alone to watch the hotel. Things start off fairly normal, but slowly begin to go askew. I’ll leave it there because I don’t want to get into spoilers for anyone who may not have seen it yet (really?).

It wasn’t until my sophomore year in high school that I first read The Shining and started comparing the book to the movie. Yes, Kubrick changed a lot to fit his vision of the story, but I feel like the two stand up on their own as two different visions of the same story. As much as I love King’s work, I really have come to love the movie as well. So much so that both the book and the movie have inspired a couple of family vacations!

One to Estes Park, Colorado, to stay at the Stanley Hotel, which was the inspiration for King’s “Overlook Hotel”. King and his wife spent the night there just as they were about to close for the season, and his experience was all the fuel he needed to start cooking up a story. If you ever get the chance to stay there, ask for Room 217. If you can’t get that, make sure you stay in the main building and not one of the more modern wings.

The other vacation was to the Timberline Lodge on Oregon’s Mount Hood, which was used as the exterior for the Overlook in the movie. It doesn’t look anything like the movie’s hotel on the inside, of course. The interior we see in the film was a series of sets built at Pinewood Studios in London. Interestingly enough, I met Anthony Daniels (the voice of “C-3PO” in Star Wars), and he said that The Empire Strikes Back was filming on an adjacent soundstage, so the two movies actually shared snow. Not only that, but he would sneak onto the set of The Shining and take naps in the hedge maze!

At some point, The Shining worked its way into my Top Three horror movie list, and it’s firmly in my top ten films of all time. If you have NEVER seen it, I would highly recommend it as we creep ever closer to Halloween. If you HAVE seen it, but it’s been a while, then revisit it. If you’re so inclined, read the book… you won’t be disappointed.