The Shining

Jack Torrance takes a winter caretaker job at the remote Overlook Hotel so he can write and rebuild his life after a volatile past. He moves in with his wife Wendy and young son Danny, who quietly carries a psychic ability called the shining. The hotel sleeps through the snowbound months, but small oddities and unsettling memories start to surface, testing Jack's patience and the family's safety. As isolation deepens, what begins as strange incidents turns steadily more menacing, raising the stakes for everyone who remains inside, without revealing how things ultimately resolve.

Released in 1980, the film was directed by Stanley Kubrick and adapted from Stephen King's novel, with a screenplay coauthored by Kubrick and Diane Johnson. Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers lead the cast.

At the time of release the movie earned limited awards recognition and received no Academy Award nominations. Over the years critics and scholars have revisited it, and while it did not sweep major prizes, its technical achievements and performances have been discussed and reassessed extensively.

The Shining left enduring images and lines in popular culture, from the unnerving twins in a hallway to Jack's deranged outburst, "Here's Johnny!" The Overlook's visuals, the hedge maze, and the climactic scenes have been referenced and parodied across film, television, music, and art, making its aesthetic immediately recognizable beyond horror fandom.

Critical response has shifted since the original reviews, with many later critics praising Kubrick's precise control of atmosphere and camera movement while others, including the novel's author, criticized the changes from the source. Major themes include isolation, addiction and its effects on family, and the ways environments can reflect psychological fracture. The film relies on slow escalation, unsettling sound and image, and ambiguous supernatural elements to create persistent unease.