Stephen King's The Shining (1997)

Stephen King's The Shining (1997)

Dir. Mick Garris | 3 episodes, approx 90 minutes each.

TV miniseries based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name. It's essentially the story of a family forced to confront the underlying feelings that threaten to tear their already not very happy home apart. The addition of a supernatural aspect turns the process dial up to dangerous levels.

Jack Torrence (Steven Weber), a struggling writer, ex-alcoholic, and regular screw-up takes a job as caretaker of a large, remote hotel that's routinely closed over the winter months. He brings his wife Wendy (Rebecca De Mornay), whose over-protectiveness of their seven year old son Danny (Courtland Mead) is justified somewhat because young Danny has a gift, or a curse depending on your point of view: he can sense emotions, danger, and even occasionally see the future.

The quiet, creative retreat that Jack hopes for turns out to be more eventful than he'd predicted. The Overlook Hotel has many ghosts and they'd just love to get to know the Torrence family better.

The teleplay was written by King, so all the little things carry over in a natural way, such as Jack telling people what he thinks they want to hear because it helps him stay in the game; the accusatory glances and subtle, snide remarks orchestrated to recall lingering guilt; a mother's jealousy of the bond between her son and his undeserving father; and the changing mannerisms of each family member as the story progresses and obsessions take over.

The boiler room gets the attention it deserves; the actual boiler being symbolic of the raging monster inside of Jack, building in force until the pressure is so great that it needs to be manually released or the whole thing will explode. Jack's fury is vented in much the same way. He needs to 'blow off steam,' as the expression goes, or his anger will consume him.

The biggest change to the story is during the finale; questionable coda aside it's not radically different from the original but it's been rewritten, making it tighter and more interesting. It's one of the things that help keep everything from falling foul of the usual third act plummet in quality.

I'm not going to add to the 'which filmed version is best?' debate other than to say: if you want an unsettling, finely-crafted cinematic vision, then Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film fits the bill, but if you'd rather see a more faithful adaptation of the novel, with intricacies of character intact, then the miniseries will provide. If you're open to the possibility of one thing evolving into two uniquely different things, then why not give both a try? They both have their respective merits.