Awfully Good: The Shining (1997 TV Miniseries)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

If you need a refresher before making an appointment with DOCTOR SLEEP, you can steer clear of…

The Shining (1997 TV Miniseries)

Director: Mick Garris
Stars: Steven Weber, Rebecca De Mornay, Courtland Mead

Stephen King learns a valuable lesson in being careful what you wish for.

Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING is considered one of the best horror films of all time, but not everyone is a fan. Perhaps no one more famous than the original novel's author Stephen King, who has made no secret of his distaste for how Kubrick translated his book to the screen and how Jack Nicholson portrayed the main character Jack Torrance.

So when ABC, hot off a string of popular made-for-TV King adaptations in the early 90s, approached the author to see if he wanted to produce and write his own faithful adaptation as a five-hour, three-night miniseries, King saw his chance to bring THE SHINING back to life and do it justice for fans of the book.

But to quote another King novel, sometimes dead is better.

Jack's dirty talk left a lot to be desired.

Right off the bat, this was clearly not a great a idea. For one, television is not where this story belongs. Taking such a seminal, adult horror novel and neutering it to be network-friendly with a TV budget was not the right move. Everything about this feels cheesy and ineffective and it's only aged worse with time. Plus, nothing kills tension like having commercial breaks constantly interrupt sequences of suspense.

Keep in mind, this was 20 years before "Peak TV," so no A-list actors or actresses were chomping at the bit to star in an ABC miniseries. And unsurprisingly, absolutely no one wanted to step in to Jack Nicholson's shoes as Jack Torrance. They were reportedly only days away from shooting before sitcom star Steven Weber ("Wings") agreed to sign on. One of King's pet peeves with Kubrick's film is that Nicholson comes across as psychotic before they even get to the Overlook Hotel. (A fair point.) However, if the filmmakers wanted to rectify that here, they failed. Weber ping pongs between sane and insane from the start, which the actor later blamed on the fact that they shot the film out of order, so he never had a clear barometer of just what level of crazy he was supposed to be at in a given scene. To his credit, Weber does some champion overacting in the final act of the movie, clearly trying to out-Nicholson Jack Nicholson with some of his maniac line readings that unfortunately come across more funny than scary.

You may recognize the actor playing Danny from other 90s flicks like THE LITTLE RASCALS, and while I take no pleasure picking on a child, he was not the right choice to carry such a big role. His performance, which mainly consists of him leaving his mouth hanging open in a dumb stupor, is so annoying that you may be rooting for Jack's croquet mallet by the end of the movie. Pretty much the only person here that comes off well is Rebecca De Mornay as Wendy. She has her moments of cheesy delivery and goofy reactions, but she's also the only one who acts like a real person throughout, automatically making her the best part of the movie.

You better get used to this face, because your're going to be seeing a lot of it.

Another thing working against THE SHINING '97 is the length. King’s novels are famously not short, and even with such sizable source material, there’s nothing here to justify this being nearly five hours long. For a big chunk of the miniseries it feels like they're just killing time, constantly cutting to extended flashbacks or other unnecessary elements. I mean, do we really need to see Dick Halloran's entire travel itinerary from Miami to the Overlook Hotel? The film literally follows him as he misses his flight, rents a car, gets gas for his snowmobile, stops to clear snow off road signs, etc. Any time things start to pick up at the Overlook Hotel, the movie is like, "Hey, I bet you're wondering what mode of transportation Dick Halloran is currently using!" No, movie, nobody wants this.

If you're investing this punishing amount of extra time in to a story, at the very least you should really feel invested in the characters. However, the film just repeats itself for most of its runtime with no real development. Jack is likeable and then he acts crazy; Jack and Wendy fight and then they make up; Danny is terrified and then happily playing; everyone argues about leaving and then decides to stay — over and over again for three feature film's worth of time. Even doubling down on Jack's alcoholism, another aspect of the novel not focused on as much in the 1980 film, doesn't add much in the way of drama or meaningful interest. A sympathetic story of a man battling his demons in a horror movie should be an easy sell, but the miniseries just acknowledges it repeatedly and doesn't do anything with it.

[Tommy Wiseau voice] "I DID NOOOOOOOT!"

And I know it’s not really fair to compare different adaptations of the same story in such different formats, but Kubrick’s film is so iconic, with elements that still permeate popular culture, and the TV version does not do enough to set itself apart. For making such a big deal about not liking the 1980 film, King and Co. sure let it influence pretty much every aspect of this remake—copying recognizable shots, building sets that feel familiar, borrowing memorable character beats—and just making minor substitutions that are much less effective. Instead of an axe, Jack's climactic weapon of choice is a croquet mallet. Instead of breaking down the door, sticking his head in and saying "Here's Johnny," this Jack breaks down the door, sticks his head in, and says "Boo!" Instead of the nightmare-inducing maze, you get sculpted hedge animals that are more adorable than ominous. Even the famous bathtub sequence is set up and shot similarly, but just much less scary.

It's like Kubrick, shockingly, knew what he was doing.

Me before I have my morning coffee.

Director Mick Garris has chops as a horror filmmaker, no doubt, and has made a career out of adapting King’s work, but he somehow turned THE SHINING in to something that's not at all scary. The 1980 movie instilled such a sense of dread with its claustrophobic setting and imagery. Here you just get the occasional doors closing by themselves, chairs rocking by themselves, and croquet being played by itself. One of the film's big jump scares in the final act, when you should be pulling out all the stops, is literally a man in a bad Halloween mask jumping out to scare a kid. Couple that with some terrible special effects (even for 1997)—including a CGI firehose with teeth that serves no real purpose, the aforementioned topiary animals that are thankfully only featured for one or two shots, and some really questionable greenscren to make Danny's imaginary friend Tony float—and you have the makings for something that feels more like a comedy than a horror movie.

Me after I've had my morning coffee.

Nothing better encapsulates what went wrong with this adaptation than the absolutely head-scratching ending that King and Garris tacked on. Ten years after the Overlook Hotel explodes and takes Jack Torrance with it, we watch as Danny graduates from high school. As soon as he grabs his diploma, he stops in the middle of the stage when he sees his dad's ghost. Spirit Jack Torrance tells him how proud he is and blows his son a ghost kiss, which a teary-eyed Danny catches and holds to his heart… in front of an entire auditorium of perplexed students and parents. This is played 100% seriously with unflinching schmaltz and just feels painful. Much like the rest of the movie, it makes you question the decision-making process of everyone involved.