In the middle of the year 1980, Stanley Kubrick directed a film that would become legendary in the horror movie genre. This film was known as The Shining, with the simple premise of family man Jack Torrance going insane from the hauntings of the mysterious Overlook hotel. New ideas for the horror genre were born from this film, which over the years has become a precedent for films following it. The damsel in distress was allowed to have reason and fight back, hauntings did not just end at the simple jump scare, and horror films became the center for some of the strongest psychological thrillers out there. To this day, people still look up to the film as a core influence towards their creative writing in the horror genre. For most people, this is no surprise. There is no denying that Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece was a beautiful horror gem ahead of its own time. Anyone who sees it, even people not a fan of the general horror genre, is intrigued by what The Shining has to offer as a film. That is except one particular person; master of the horror genre literary world, Stephen King.

Stephen King's dislike for the film stems with the fact that he feels Stanley Kubrick twisted the story he originally created for himself. Before the film had been released, Stephen King had written The Shining as a novel three years earlier. The story was about the horrors the Torrance family faces as a unit when father and husband Jack Torrance gets a job as caretaker for the Overlook Hotel. What follows are a series of unexplainable supernatural occurrences that leaves the characters a mere shadow of their former selves. The Overlook Hotel is fueled by a dark, corrupt past, that has victimized many individuals before them. Without confronting their fears, the three members of the Torrance family are doomed to fall into the same darkness themselves, especially recovering alcoholic Jack. The book Stephen King had brewed became an international horror classic in a similar way to some of his other hit novels; Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, The Green Mile, and It. It was another huge victory for the literary horror genre. That was until the film Stanley Kubrick created based on the material overshadowed Stephen King's original classic, which shared almost no similarities to the original source material.

This story about the conflicting interests between Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick is what inspired me to read the novelization of The Shining. I wanted to find out once and for all which version of the story was the superior. Would it be Stephen King's original 450 page classic, which helped create the blueprints for the loosely adapted movie? Or somehow would the adaptation from Stanley Kubrick not only be proven to be a genre changing horror film, but the superior story as well? After reading the original book as well as watching the movie, I have one simple conclusion. In my mind, Stephen King was right to have problems with The Shining film. It takes away what made the original book work so well. Despite the unique material in the film working quite fine on its own, it betrays the true purpose Stephen King was trying to depict in the novel three years earlier. To find the true purpose The Shining novel served, we need to dig deep into the elements that make this book so great.

The first of these elements is the characterization. Besides being a master at creating great horror stories, Stephen King has a natural born talent for crafting characters that almost feel real. For example there is Jack Torrance, who in the film was reduced to an abusive father who naturally lets the hotel's horrors consume him into a full blown psychopath. This is far from the case in the book. Jack Torrance in the book's universe is a troubled, yet kind individual who lets the worst parts of himself sometimes get the best of him. Bathed in a childhood full of horrific abuse, Jack struggles with strong anger issues and demonizing alcoholism. His flaws have caused him to not only lose his job at an esteemed university but be one rage filled drink away from having his family taken away from him. For this reason, the Overlook Hotel is Jack's last chance in repairing the self-inflicted damage he has put on his life. Thus, his downfall because of the Overlook's ghastly demons from the past is the more tragic and memorable. By the end of the novel, Jack even loses his own individualism, becoming a walking corpse of the hotel's evil ambitions. Unlike the movie, there is a sense of sympathy towards the character. This is an end Jack should have never met in any lifetime. Just having him freeze in the snow at the end of the story does not even have close to the same effect as the slow decline Jack has by becoming the hotel's voiceless puppet.

Alongside Jack in the characterization elements of this story are his wife Wendy, five-year-old son Danny, and the newfound friend of the Torrance family, Dick Hallorann. The Wendy from the film adaptation is simply just a braver than usual housewife. There is really no other purpose for her character to be there except to take care of her son Danny. In the book however, Wendy is a more complex woman dealing with a lot of conflict. Her confidence, both in herself and in others, was sapped away by a childhood raised by an overbearing mother. She found an escape from this internal conflict in the form of Jack Torrance in college, whom she soon came to marry. Things take a turn for the worse three years after her son Danny is born after Jack is consumed in alcoholism and makes an unforgivable mistake. Even as Jack goes dry after the fact, Wendy is haunted by this image to the point of almost falling into a nervous breakdown. She cannot trust Jack, she cannot trust her family, and she cannot trust herself. Everyday for Wendy is a living hell, which only once in a while takes a quick commercial break when it seems things might start to transition back to the way they were. That reality is proven impossible time after time, making Wendy a victim in both her marriage and the horrors from the Overlook Hotel. To me, I prefer the complex, troubled woman Wendy is in the novel versus her depiction in the movie.  She feels more like a real, relatable human being, despite being a fictional character in a horror novel.

As for Danny Torrance, he is merely not just an unlucky individual stuck with the psychic responsibilities of the shining ability. In the novel, Danny is a child still trying to understand the world around him. With the shining ability making this understanding the more complex, Danny sees both the good and bad in every individual he meets.  This however also leaves him with the curse of knowing the capabilities these people have when put under extreme pressure.  This aspect has its worst affect towards his father Jack, who Danny favors the most out of his parents.  From the shining ability, Danny is forced to watch Jack slip into insanity both mentally and physically.  The worst part of the shining ability though are the twisted nightmares he receives in the form of potential future visions.  Even before setting foot in the Overlook Hotel, Danny knew of the horrors that awaited him.  Due to him just being a child and neither of his parents initially believing in his ability, Danny was completely voiceless towards the potential horrors awaiting the family.  His only comfort was in Dick Hallorann, another individual with a dulled down shining ability who would end up being the person responsible in helping the remaining Torrance family members escape via snowmobile.  Despite being an innocent five year old child, Danny has to be one of the most complex individuals in the entire novel, competing even against his father Jack Torrance.

  Lastly, there is the only non-Torrance family protagonist, Dick Hallorann.  In Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of the novel, Hallorann served only two roles; telling Danny about the shining ability and then being brutally murdered by Jack Torrance.  He was only a plot device at best.  In the novel though, Dick not only has a much more important role, but is the person who arguably saves both Wendy and Danny's lives in the end.  Having been employed at the Overlook Hotel for a number of years, Dick was well educated in the horrors the hotel had in store.  He had been a witness to the dangerous vibes of room 217, seen the now invisible crime scenes in some of the hotel rooms, and had been victimized by the worst attractions the hotel can dish out.  The only reason he didn't quit is due to the essential need of a paycheck from racial profiling in the time period of the novel.  Like the Torrance family, Dick was trapped in the Overlook  Hotel's many horrors.  That is not even mentioning his PTSD from wartime, where the shining ability made him a witness to horrific scenes no one should ever be a part of.  He is more than an informant for Danny.  Dick Hallorann is just as important and even connected to the Torrance family.

  Streaming away from Stephen King's strong characterization is the way he handles the many horrors the novel has to offer.  This element, unlike the characterization, does have a bit of competition in the film adaptation depending on taste.  In the film version of The Shining, Stanley Kubrick's genius camera angles allow for some truly frightening imagery.  The suspense built into every scene makes the sight of two little twin girls and a simple bar scene look completely sinister to the viewer.  It does not rely heavily from the cheap jump scare, which a lot of horror films in recent years have been plagued with.  Thus, even today someone would still find something to truly be afraid of, sharing the Torrance family's frightening experience.  Stephen King's take on the horror elements take a complete turn from Stanley Kubrick.  Instead of introducing the fear straight away, Stephen King gives time to build up whatever nightmare fueled scene he has in mind.  With this build-up, the audience becomes more frightened at what is to come, creating a true sense of fear when the scare is finally revealed.  An example of this is the slow decline of Jack's sanity, which all begins after he is blamed for the horrors room 217 put on Danny.  The stress, alongside Danny's foreboding visions, all give the audience a sense of dread towards the inevitable mental breakdown at the climax of the book.  Stephen King also does not rely on cheap jump scares, making the horror more memorable.  To me, this element is hard to chose a winner for, but strengthens the argument as to why the novel is so powerful.  It is up to you by what I said as to which is the superior here.

  The final element of The Shining novelization that stands out to me is the relatable situation.  Stephen King, unlike Stanley Kubrick, manages to make this fictional unfolding feel astonishingly realistic from the get-go.  The reason the Torrance family becomes caretakers to the Overlook Hotel is due to financial troubles caused by Jack's recent firing from an esteemed university.  Jack takes the job not only for the financial stability, but to put his life back on track after a series of bad decisions caused by his drinking and anger issues.  The hotel gives him an opportunity to start fresh with a play he attempts to finish and prove himself capable of holding down a stable job position.  His wife Wendy uses the hotel job to try to let go of the past, where outbursts of Jack's anger by a thread almost ended their relationship forever.  She uses the hotel as an escape from reality, which unfortunately comes crashing back to her the second the hotel's horrors slowly wash away Jack's individualism.  Danny just wants his parents to repair their relationship at the Overlook Hotel, dreading even the word divorce.  Despite his futuristic visions, Danny tries his best to dismiss them so his family can be repaired, even with the side effect of horrific nightmare after nightmare.  Anyone with a financial situation of their own, as well as a family, can relate to the motivations behind the characters.  We all want to escape the bad in our lives for the unrealistic good.  All the movie version accomplishes in this category is Jack wanting to write a novel.  Otherwise, the character motivations are weaker besides Jack's, who wants some well deserved tranquility.  Because of the book's attention to detail on the character motivations of the Torrance family, this leaves a huge gap in the film adaptation which could never be filled.

  Do not think for a moment though that I think The Shining film is terrible.  I really think the movie deserves the recognition it has gotten over the years.  As I said earlier, the horror elements are well thought out.  In fact, it was one of only a few horror films I have ever watched that actually left an impression on me.  The scares are memorable in their own way.  I just do not like that as a cost for these memorable scenes, other elements that made the book great had to be cut out.  I still see the novel as superior, but easily I would watch the film version a million times over.  It has its own charm.

  As for how I rank The Shining based on the two Stephen King novels I have read so far, it easily surpasses The Dead Zone.  Although I loved that novel, it was bogged down by unnecessary filler that seems to be a trap the author sometimes falls into due to having too big of an ambition.  Both books are definite great choices for anyone's reading list aside from the few faults The Dead Zone has.  In fact most of the novels I have checked out so far are great reads.  The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas has a rare point of view of World War Two that makes it stand out from the crowd.  Animal Farm is both a well written fairy tale and warning about the unwritten horrors of communism.  The Kite Runner gives readers a fantastic insight into the importance of family, forgiveness, and the Afghani culture.  Even Twilight was entertaining in the parts where the romance didn't bog down the plot and actually tried to give the main characters some strand of relatable aspects.  All of the novels I read so far are beloved for a reason, even if none of them can be defined as perfect.  As much as I made it sound like the perfect novel, The Shining still had weak points at the introduction, where it spent a little too long on exposition.  I can say the same for any other novel.  The point is this experience so far has been lots of fun and I cannot wait for the next four novels.  Hopefully none of them end up being too dusty in the writing department.