This miniseries version of The Shining sounded promising. The teleplay was written by Stephen King, it was produced by Stephen King, and it was filmed in the resort hotel where he originally conceived the plot and began writing it. King has also been quoted as saying he liked this more than Kubrick's Shining, so my friend and I decided to watch it and see how it was.
This was so bad that it has to be broken down into a list of bullet points in order to explain the badness:
* The kid that played Danny is the worst child actor of all time. The sound of his voice ruined every scene he was in. Any buildup of tension was completely destroyed when Danny spoke.
* The hedges were TINY. Nobody would be scared of those things chasing them. You could step on it and the situation would be over.
* They showed Tony as a floating teenager. Tony would pop up at a moment's notice. They removed the scenes of Danny's trances. And at the end they came out and showed you who Tony is. There's so much wrong with that I don't know where to start.
* They left out all mention of the character's personal histories.
* They added in the line "Kissing kissing, that's what I've been missing." They throw that line in five or six times. It was like nails on a chalkboard.
* The ballroom scene was straight up silly. Especially when you notice it's Stephen King conducting the orchestra: http://www.filmid.planet.ee/pilt/The_Shining_Stephen_King_02.jpg
* Steven Weber did such a lackluster Jack Torrance performance. Part of the intrigue with the story is watching Jack Torrance slip into madness, but this guy was completely disturbed before he ever set foot in the Overlook. There's no shift in his behavior from start to finish, he's self-pitying and harsh from the beginning.
* In the book Halloran had an afro. Neither movie gave him his afro. I would have hoped that something Stephen King was so involved in would stay true to the character's description in the book. This isn't such a big deal, but it would have been much cooler if he had an afro instead of short hair.
* That climax where Danny confronts his abusive father was an atrocity. It makes sense that this was a network tv miniseries and they couldn't show too much violence, but this was all so sappy it was hard to even look at.
I would not recommend anyone watching this movie ever.
This was so bad that it has to be broken down into a list of bullet points in order to explain the badness:
* The kid that played Danny is the worst child actor of all time. The sound of his voice ruined every scene he was in. Any buildup of tension was completely destroyed when Danny spoke.
* The hedges were TINY. Nobody would be scared of those things chasing them. You could step on it and the situation would be over.
* They showed Tony as a floating teenager. Tony would pop up at a moment's notice. They removed the scenes of Danny's trances. And at the end they came out and showed you who Tony is. There's so much wrong with that I don't know where to start.
* They left out all mention of the character's personal histories.
* They added in the line "Kissing kissing, that's what I've been missing." They throw that line in five or six times. It was like nails on a chalkboard.
* The ballroom scene was straight up silly. Especially when you notice it's Stephen King conducting the orchestra: http://www.filmid.planet.ee/pilt/The_Shining_Stephen_King_02.jpg
* Steven Weber did such a lackluster Jack Torrance performance. Part of the intrigue with the story is watching Jack Torrance slip into madness, but this guy was completely disturbed before he ever set foot in the Overlook. There's no shift in his behavior from start to finish, he's self-pitying and harsh from the beginning.
* In the book Halloran had an afro. Neither movie gave him his afro. I would have hoped that something Stephen King was so involved in would stay true to the character's description in the book. This isn't such a big deal, but it would have been much cooler if he had an afro instead of short hair.
* That climax where Danny confronts his abusive father was an atrocity. It makes sense that this was a network tv miniseries and they couldn't show too much violence, but this was all so sappy it was hard to even look at.
I would not recommend anyone watching this movie ever.
