The Shining (Original Movie & TV remake)

The Shining is a 1980 British-American psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers. The film is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name, although the film and novel differ in significant ways.

In the film, Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic, takes a job as an off-season caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel. His young son possesses psychic abilities and is able to see things from the past and future, such as the ghosts who inhabit the hotel. Some time after settling in, the family is trapped in the hotel by a snowstorm, and Jack gradually becomes influenced by a supernatural presence, descends into madness, and ultimately attempts to murder his wife and son.

In the Made for TV "Remake", the telling is a bit closer to the book than the 1980 film. The film doesn't quite explain as to why (nor how) the Overlook Hotel is "after the Torrance family" (the "Hotel" doesn't want Jack n or Wendy, the Hotel NEEDS Danny), and the TV Remake also has a "closer to the source material" proper ending for both the remains of the Torrence family AND Jack Torrance (the father) as well. The key phrase (that Danny was once told) "You will remember what the Hotel forgot" was apparently scrubbed clean from the 1980 movie, although it was a very important plot point.

The 1980 movie did do one major help for its actors though, it helped propel Jack Nicholson's career as an actor who could play "psychotic" very well. Steven Weber (from TV's Wings) fulfills the same role in the TV Movie version (which is included in this DVD Pack).