Stephen King's The Shining - The Dom Reviews 

Hey, man. Those hedges are trying their best trying to be scary. Leaf them alone.

As someone who listened to this audiobook whilst I took night walks outside HEDGES CAN BE SCARY

Dom's clearly never gotten lost in a maze.

"The one downside to being part of Channel Awesome" Boy does that date this video.

Me watching the Kubrick film: ugh they didn't have any of the book in here! Why couldn't they be accurate?! me watching the mini series: oh...

I actually found the hedge scene to be the scariest scene in the book... Just the idea of things that you thought were inanimate moving behind you and being in a different position every time you look at them creeped me out.

about the whiskey, "jack Daniel's"= jack and Danny (Daniel) its about their poisonous relationship.

I think The Dom should do a video on Peter Pan, specifically the 2003 live action film because that was most faithful to the book. Yes technically the book was based on a play which came first, but I think it still counts as a book-to-film adaptation.

"HEDGES ARE NOT SCARY!" Oh, you are so wrong my friend... In the book they were absolutely terrifying. Because the problem with the TV series adaption was that they actually showed the Hedge animals moving around with cartoonish CGI... The way it would have worked perfectly was that we only hear the rustling of the bushes as they move off camera, maybe with some added snarls of animal sounds... But when Danny turns around they're just suddenly they're behind him... When he turns back around again after concentrating their all back where they originally were... The only time we see them actually moving would be at the climax when they are escaping the hotel and they should have been shown mostly in the dark with glowing eyes until they are set on fire when they turn back into stiff and unmoving hedge animals that simply burn quickly and disappear with a howl noise... I personally think that would have worked much better than what they tried to show in the TV mini-series... Because in the book they were actually really damn scary....

I hope the Dom does Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children in the future (I saw the film recently and while it's a good movie the changes they made made no sense - and were often completely unnecessary. Y'all know what I'm talking about).

Mr Dom, I would like to appreciate the quality of your reviews and your always valid arguments. Thank you.

It would be interesting to see your opinion on “Doctor Sleep” (the sequel to “The Shining”)!

14:53 The Overlook Hotel was destroyed in the book, and in the sequel, "Dr. Sleep" the ending takes place where the hotel used to be. In the film version of Dr. Sleep, since it was a sequel to the Kubrick film, as well as the book, they decided to follow the Kubrick film, and have it take place in the Overlook, which was closed ever since Jack died there, while trying to murder his family.

Hedges are scary in the book, when I read the shining in my early teens. They kind of remind me of those evil angels in Dr Who. There is something scary about, when you believe something has moved when your back is turned, and when you look around to check, you realise that something has moved closer, but not quite sure if it was that way before but hadnt noticed it. You dont know if your seeing things, or if something is preying upon you. Its enough to leave you questioning your own sanity and that is scary.

Steven Weber (Jack's actor) is actually normally a good actor. He read the audio book for IT and it's one of my favourite audio books.

Honestly, the axe makes it more scarier than a mallet. I know he used a mallet in the book, but it's just 2 silly. Using an axw is better.

I remember seeing this mini-series when I was younger, and I found the hedges being quite scary. BUT only up until they started actually moving.

Agree with most of this, but Jack regaining his senses at the last moment and saving Danny's life before the hotel can destroy them both IS in the book. How did you miss that? He tells Danny he loves him and everything.

Jack is drinking Jack. It's more like silly dad joke on the Character's name's sake.

"Hedges Aren't Scary!" Tell that to WWII vets who invaded Normandy.

In the Novel Danny doesn't have telekinesis but in the sequel Doctor Sleep the character Abra who has the Shinning uses telekinesis in a very similar way to Carrie maybe Carrie had the Shinning

You should do "It". The book, though flawed, is one of King's best. The mini-series is ripe for a ripping. Also, I really want to see your reaction to one particular scene in the sewers. Anyone who has read the book will know the one I mean. It's a jaw-hitting-floor moment.

To be fair, in regards to the liquor the spirits give Jack in both movie and book; if they're capable of reading his thoughts, they'd probably give him alcohol that he favors (such as, Jack Daniels) instead of the good shit they have on hand. Their intent was to make jack their minion; not impress him with their luxuries.

The quality of the mid-90s TV CGI was the scariest part of the Shining miniseries.

"why did the zombie conducter turn away from the band?" go find some footage of cab calloway

Once I reached the 3/4 mark of the book, there was no stopping. I was about 16 at the time and it was a school night, but school be damned, I read it until 3 am, feeling like I was on a rollercoaster as the book sped towards the climax. The following day I rented Kubrick's film from my local video store. I probably spent half the movie wondering when the boiler was going to be mentioned, and I found Danny talking to his finger to be incredibly stupid. And where are the hedge animals? I remembered the idea being quite terrifying, especially in the way King described Jack slowly becoming aware that they are changing position whenever he looks away. A hedge maze? That's not in the book..... Instead of being similar to the previous evening's rollercoaster, Kubrick's movie felt more like a merry go round. I waited in vain for my favorite moments from the book to make their appearance and in their place I got stuff that was completely made up for the movie. Maybe it's a cinematic masterpiece to some people, but it's barely a shadow of the movie I saw in my head while reading the book. The mini-series, while being somewhat dated and flawed, is far closer to the original rollercoaster ride that I felt when I was 16. It took forever to be released on DVD due to a contract stipulation with Kubrick's estate, but when it finally was, I was one of the first to buy it. I pull it out to watch when I want that rollercoaster feeling again but don't have time to read the novel for the 8th time.

Fun fact: The manager of the bar at The Stanley (the hotel the overlook is based on & the one shown in the miniseries) is a whiskey fanatic. The alcohol options there are quite impressive.

OK I feel I must be a bit more specific. 😹 Do Stephen Kings it!

Actually, the hedges scene is the one thing that still is in my memory. Those things were scary for me!

In some states if a building is old enough, they can avoid certain safety laws and disability laws. It is called grandfathering the building in. Thus if the building was old enough and the boiler was put in before the safety laws were made they could keep it. Also if it is considered a historic property some states allow you to keep said horrible unsafe things in to keep it historically accurate to the building's construction.

"Christine" (both the book and movie) had a "The end, or is it?" Ending.

8:37, this is 100% something I would do if I thought no one was looking.

I don't think they rebuild the Overlook in the books, but in the sequel to The Shining (yes, King wrote a sequel) it IS made clear that the land is still evil even without the hotel. It's the land specifically that's evil, not the hotel. Danny even goes back to that very spot (which is now a campground) to face off a new threat.

IDK, I first read that book when I was about 11, and those hedges scared the snot out of me in a weeping angel kind of way. I had cold sweat nightmares about those hedges.

This is the mini-series I point most people to when arguing that putting book loyalty above everything else can make an adaptation nearly unwatchable. Trust me, you don't want to sit through 10-hour films that fixate on boring details.

In your review of the other version you said something like ”I’m aware that King was working through his own alcoholism issues vicariously, so don’t tell me about that” and … kinda left it at that. So let’s talk some more about that! One of my favorite techniques is the unreliable narrator. (Films like Rashomon and The Usual Suspects or books like Lolita , High Fidelity and Fight Club, as well as their adaptations, where the central premise of the story is that the narrator is full of shit.) But there is an interesting sub cathegory or literary cousin, where the author/narrator is completely on the level, they just happen to be deeply unreliable people. Anyone remember ”Not Without My Daughter”? As far as I can tell, the author is trying to tell a completely straight black-and-white tragical adventure. But the autobiographical narrator is so obviously intolerant, prejudiced and looking for faults that the culture shock in her marriage comes across as a lot more nuanced than probably intended. I’m pretty sure anything vaguely autobiographical by Erika Mitchell would have similar problems. Okay, back to The Shining. According to King he was actively abusing alcohol and painkillers while writing the book. As well as being an abusive father and husband. However: he was 100% in denial on all of this! Or so he says. At the same time, book Jack Torrance is one of the most blatant self insert author avatars in all of Kings books. For King Jack Torrance is the empathic point of view. The intent is a tragedy about a flawed but essentially decent man destroyed by unlucky circumstances and malevolent external forces. In the actual book, rather than the one King thought he wrote, the protagonist is Danny, and Jack is increasingly creepy and menacing from early on. It’s cool and fascinating and sad that King apparently wrote so mercilessly honest about himself, whithout beeing conciously aware of it. Kubrick and Nicholson obviously picked up on the creepy and menacing bit. It reminds me of your reaction to High Fidelity actually. The author thinks his protagonist is deeply flawed but still essentially decent and sympathetic. Dominic reads the book and goes ”This person is a complete garbage person, swinging back and forth between utter wanker and actual monster! I don’t want him to get redemption and happy ever after, I just want him to eat shit and die.” So film Jack is a creepazoid without self awareness who’s obviously lying to himself and everyone around him about his problems. The dramatic suspense of his face-heel-turn is the anticipation. We’ve seen it coming from scene one, but it takes half the movie for the people in the movie to catch up. It’s a giant ”No you idiot, don’t go down alone in the basement!” device. Or bomb-under-the-table. You know. Given that, it makes sense that King would hate one of the best adaptations of his work as well as one of the best horror movies ever made. The movie says that he, personally, was never the nice but troubled man he thought he was, but rather a monster all along. It takes his very private and poignant redemption arc and throws it contemptously down the toilet. I can only imagine how much that must have hurt to watch. Incidentially, I think that he has reevaluated Kubricks work, at least somewhat, in later interviews. Anyway, thanks for a fun and interesting video, as usual. Ps I know that writing this so far after the release is probably not going to be read by anyone, but it lets me put my thoughts in order, and it still helps with the dreaded algorithms, right? Right.

I’ve read a lot of Stephen King books- I actually love Stephen King. That being said, a lot of his stuff is DEFINITELY scarier in book form than in film form. Sometimes when I’m reading a book, I think how something would look in a movie and, even in my head, it looks ridiculous. Also, I just want to add that I watched this mini series a while ago, but your opening bit where “Stephen” was being interviewed was both hilarious AND accurate.

You know, it was the Mad Magazine parody of the Kubrick movie that pointed out a flaw that might have made the entire novel go up in a puff of logic: WHY, in the name of all that's holy, would a mountain hotel in Colorado close for the winter when the ski season's at its height?

Thanx Dom. Nothing makes me as happy as seeing another awesome video from you.

Danny having telekinesis is a form of shining, and is a callback to Carrie. In the Dark Tower series, people are hunted down who can shine, because they can break the beams that hold up the Tower itself.

the only thing you got wrong was King cared about the sets a little. He was insistent that it be filmed at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado because that was where he got the inspiration for the book.

"the end... or is it?" pet sematary. you're welcome

"Everyone knows that old cars end up costing you more in the long run." Um, they actually don't, especially if you factor in payments and interest on the loan for a newer car. And depending on how old it is, older cars cost far less to buy parts for, and are much easier to work on, than newer cars. If you have the money upfront, it is much cheaper to buy an older car and take it to the mechanic right away to give it the works. And if you're worried about maintenance fees down the road, just save all the money that would have been your car payment every month! It will actually be less in the long run. My 1989 Nissan Maxima very rarely requires repair, in spite of my grandfather's fears that it will "nickle and dime you to death."

King is directly referencing the performance style of Cab Calloway in the Jazz scene in this mini-series.

I just finished a horrible debate society meeting. your videos always relax me!

The way he says "no" as Stephen King

Dom, I'm so glad I found your channel. You are thoroughly entertaining. Your back-catalogue was one of the best binge-watch experiences I've had.

It's not the hedges that are scary. It's the concept of something we know to be inanimate defying our senses by moving swiftly and silently when we're not looking. The fact that they're hedges adds to the unnerving sensation _because_ they're not intimidating. Most fear is all about a lack of knowledge. The more _familiar_ something is, the stranger it feels when our understanding of it is contradicted. That's why Uncanny Valley works so well - it's so close to what we perceive as real, but something is... off. Hedges can be scary, but it's not because they're hedges. The thought of a moving hedge-monster isn't scary. What's scary is the implications that come with seeing the impossible: large, immobile objects changing places the second you turn your head. Let me put it this way: Say you were sitting alone at your computer at 4am, you turn around to discover a wooden chair from another room is placed directly behind you, facing you. You never heard a sound, your door is closed, you didn't move it, no one else could have. Would that creep you out? You'd get the same disturbing sensation you feel when you inexplicably think you're being watched. But why? Chairs aren't scary. They're a place for butts. It isn't the chair that's creeping you out, it's the implication of it being there.

Stephen King - 'I hate the Kubrick movie because it wasn't faithful to my glorious book!' *gets chance to remake The Shining...changes a bunch of stuff from the book*

I will have to write a story where a hedge is genuinely scary. I think the "or is it" ending might be a reference to a sequel story King wrote many years later.

Telepathy, telekinesis, and pyrokinesis are all different abilities. Being "psychic" is sort of a vague catch-all, but also generally isn't any of the other three abilities.

Hedges COULD be scary if they were handled right-not shown clearly. I mean, they already act like Weeping Angels at first, and at the climax when they're running around freely it's freaking NIGHT...perfect for hiding them in shadow, and making sure you don't get a good look at them. It wouldn't be easy, but it could be done.

Someone please tell Stephen King that what works in a novel doesn't always work on screen.

14:04 This is a bit Spoilery but in the sequel book "Dr. Sleep" an adult Danny is trying to save a little girl from a group of psychic vampires ( it's weird and too long to explain) and ends up back at the spot where the Overlook stood. Once he defeats them there's a similar scene where Danny looks up and sees the ghost of his father, sober, smiling, and proud before vanishing. It's quite touching actually.

My theory on the picture at the end of the Kubrik version is to show that Jack had been absorbed by the hotel. He, like Grady, Grady's family, and everyone else who died at the Overlook have become part of it, adding their souls to the hive-mind. And by being added to the hotel, they have increased its power. That's my take on it anyway.

I felt a lot of tension while reading the book when the hedges were moving, very suspenseful

I love these! I have some issues reading, so I watch a lot of movies based on books. I know I'm missing a lot of context, so these reviews and adaptation videos are phenomenal for me! I'm not much of a horror fan but am curious of Stephen King's works. Mostly I'd love to see Agatha Christie review/adaptation videos. (I'm new to this channel so maybe you've already done some and I just have to go digging.)

Really stupid nitpick: from working at an old money country club, I know a smidge about bar tending practices. If you do not specify what brand of liquor you want, you will be served the well drink, and even at pricey places, it is cheap brand. For clear liquors, Gordon"s was a preferred brand where I worked and to this day, if you ask me what vodka is best for a mixed drink meant to hide the quality of the alcohol (i.e. a screwdriver), Gordon's is just as good as Grey Goose.

After reading the Shining while still a kid, just walking by hedge animals would freak me out... Now today.. yeah, still pretty freaky.. ;-) In my mind, it's not similar to the Weeping Angels, it's the exact same thing... I'm sure there are people who think angel statues aren't scary.. And they are wrong also.. ;-)

the only "or is it..." ending for a king book that I can think of is "Needful Things"

"The wasps came back and that's weird and unfortunate." Some people would have much stronger verbiage for seeing an event like that.

I’ve worked in building maintenance for thirty years. If boiler pressure goes unregulated, then what’s going to happen is a hot water pipe will burst, and you’re going to have an office or offices soaked in water. I know of no way possible for a boiler to detonate, and destroy the building as King portrayed in The Shining.

I think the Dom has unrealistic health and safety expectations related to grandfathered boiler systems in the US. They only replace them when the cost of operating out-ways the cost of replacing and only then.

If my normal shaped hedges came to life and started to move around. I would fine that kind of freaky

My theory is that the Overlook Hotel was infested with a Boggart (from the Harry Potterverse).

Oh man finally!!! I've waited so long for you to do this!!!

Hi! Can u please make a lost in adaptation episode on Memoirs of a Geisha? I just read the book and watched the movie. They are both amazing in their own way. I hope you will make my wish come true... someday...

Danse Macabre was perfect for this

Hey Dom, I just wondered something. Are you going to do a review of IT before the movie comes out? (and hey, maybe some more of his books as well ;) ) Keep up the good work, I always enjoy your videos :)

Im not gonna lie... "decaying naked zombie lady" sounds like a funny phrase.

My theory about the photo in the original movie is that Jack has the Shinning (google there's a lot of proof) and it made him immortal o he always worked at the hotel. Also the ghosts in the movie are not ghosts it's all Jack creating the ghosts with his powers

By the way, the ending of this miniseries, with the hotel being rebuilt, is DEFINITELY non-canon since the publication of Doctor Sleep, where it's revealed that it was never rebuilt and was turned into a picnic and RV park.

I watched this when I was younger, and I never knew it was a mini series. I thought it was a movie...

actually, the correct sound to make if grabbed from behind by a half decomposed zombie lady is "Gaboita!", wich according to SWTOR is Rodian for "Aaaargh!"

“The end. Or is it!” Is actually exactly how Christine ends.

Was "overweight cowboy" a derogatory term for American? Because if it's not, it should be. I would use that every opportunity I could.

I actually found myself liking his like the film, mainly because Steven Weber did a good job as Jack and portraying the sympathetic and remorseful side compared to Nicholson's rage side. ...Oh and this one doesn't have the creepy and uncomfortable implications of Kubrick abusing everyone except for Danny Lloyd.

WOW - when did Elliot Gould go from, cool 70's anti-hero to Dad from friends...?

Jack Torrance isn't gone forever, he does make a rather nice appearance in the sequel Doctor Sleep.

It's always nice to wake up to find one of your videos in my sub feed. Keep up the great work!

How about an episode on Interview with the Vampire?

There is a sequel to the Shining book, Doctor Sleep, where an adult Danny fights a cult that wants to use a little girl with Shining powers for their own means. The book's climax has Danny and the cult's leader fighting on the site of the Overlook Hotel, which is just apile of ash and gravel by this time.

Hedges are scary, ask a 6 year old who got caught in one :( Also, hedges can be scary depending not only on their physical properties like height etc but also due to what they might enclose (a maze/an unknown territory).

Stumbled on to your channel a week ago and have been watching every day as a way to lift my spirits! You, sir, are a genious! Please keep the videos coming!

Why has none of his patrons suggested the martian?

Love your videos. Thanks for doing them!

The "plenty of other thing to be snide about" comment regarding Chanel Awesome honestly aged pretty well.

Yes. Admittedly, this TV adaptation was the effing Hallmark version of The Shining book

Hey the dom do you think you'll eventually review Carrie in lost in adaptation?

I haven’t read all of King’s books either, but in terms of the “OR IS IT THE END?” ending cliche; the ending of “Carrie” features an excerpt from a letter in which a woman reveals that she has witnessed her daughter moving marbles around the floor with her mind.

I've been waiting for this since you reviewed the Kubric version, was a little disappointed that you didn't say bored backwards. I've been watching way to much of nostalgia critic.

I can think of a couple examples of King using the "The End?" trope. For example, Christine ended with the car getting cubed, seemingly putting it out of commission, but in the epilogue it's stated that a character with a similar name to the one surviving bully was killed in a freak car accident, leaving the narrator concerned that Christine is still alive and possibly out to get him. I've also heard that Carrie ended with a reference to another girl with the same powers, but I've never read that book myself.

That line about Channel Awesome did not age well...

Everything can be scary....including hedges. Especially hedges. I mean, you never knew what might behind them. This alone can make them scary.

Hey The Dom, quick question. Are you planning on covering the film adaptation of King's book Misery?

In Carrie he did a 'The End?' ending where they show a letter explaining there is a another TK child

I hope hope hope you're going to do Steven Kings IT sometime this year seeing as how the new movie will be coming out.

Loved the video. Kept thinking the music was going to be “Turkey in the Straw” and then it wasn’t lol.

Woah, you’re part of channel awesome?!

15:10. Can confirm that the Overlook was never rebuilt in King's bookverse, as by the time of Doctor Sleep (the sequel to The Shining set when Danny was around forty) the site was an RV park.