So, Stephen King has written a sequel to The Shining, which has a lot of folks pretty excited because The Shining is probably his most popular story. Of course, the main reason The Shining has become so popular is because Stanley Kubrick went and made it into one the most acclaimed horror movies ever. Now, King has had some not-so-nice things to say about Kubrick’s movie in the past, but now that he’s written a sequel that exists largely because of Kubrick’s movie, maybe he’s had a change of heart!
Nope. Stephen King still really hates that movie you guys…
Here’s what King had to say about Kubrick’s The Shining during a recent interview…
“It’s cold, I’m not a cold guy. I think one of the things people relate to in my books is this warmth, there’s a reaching out and saying to the reader, ‘I want you to be a part of this.’ With Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ I felt that it was very cold, very ‘We’re looking at these people, but they’re like ants in an anthill, aren’t they doing interesting things, these little insects.’
Jack Torrance in the movie, seems crazy from the jump. Jack Nicholson, I’d seen all his biker pictures in the ’50s and ’60s and I thought, he’s just channelling ‘The Wild Angels’ here.”
King’s greatest criticism was reserved for the movie version of Wendy…
“Shelley Duvall as Wendy is really one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film, she’s basically just there to scream and be stupid and that’s not the woman that I wrote about.”
To be fair, everything King says is more-or-less true. The movie is cold, Jack Nicholson does seem crazy from the first frame he appears and Shelley Duvall is a total dishrag as Wendy, but on the other hand, it’s The Shining. It’s one of the best movies of all time. You catch a glimpse of it while flipping through channels and you’re compelled to sit there in a trance and watch the whole thing every damn time. There’s some legit dark magic sewn into the movie.
Also, King directed Maximum Overdrive, so let’s not take anything he has to say about movies too seriously.
Stephen King’s The Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep hits bookstores tomorrow.
via The Playlist