The Shining

The Shining is a 2023 Horror/Psychological-Thriller Movie based on the 1977 book by Stephen King.

It was written by Nicholas Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay for the 2018 Stephen King adaption Four Past Midnight.

Synopsis
John 'Jack' Torrance is a recovering alcoholic in 1977. When he gets a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, him and his wife Wendy think it will be a nice change for them and their son, Danny. Little do they know, Danny's secret psychic powers will cause a terrible event, that could change their lives for better or for worse...

Plot
In 1975, Jack Torrance comes home drunk one night. He gets a phone call, and his son, Danny, accidentally spills some water on Jack's work. Jack is angry and breaks Danny's arm. Later on, him and his friend Albert are driving home late at night, and they run over a lone bicycle. After the shock, Jack swears to never take another drink of alcohol.

Two years later, in 1977, Jack is getting a job as the Winter Season Caretaker at the famous Overlook Hotel. The owner, Stuart Ullman, explains that the Hotel's season runs from May 12 to September 30, so the first night as caretaker will be September 31st. Pete Watson, the summertime Caretaker, shows Jack how to work the boiler, but also explains that if he doesn't check it twice every day, there is a possibility it will explode. Pete then tells Jack that the previous caretaker killed his wife and children before shooting himself in the head, and that a lady once commited suicide in one of the guest rooms.

Back at Jack's home, in Colorado, his wife Wendy and Danny are waiting for him. Danny's imaginary friend, Tony, contacts him and shows him multiple visions including a bathtub with the curtain drawn and something inside it, a room numbered 217 with blood dripping from the door, an overturned chair and a broken table and a bloody Croquet Mallet. Danny tries to forget about it, and his father arrives. Jack tells Wendy that he got the job, and all three of them will be staying at The Overlook over winter.

Jack, Wendy and Danny meet Ullman as the hotel is clearing out. Ullman shows them the presidential suite, and Danny has a vision of blood splattered over the wall. Later, Danny meets the chef, Dick Hallorann, who tells him that they both have the same psychic abilities that he calls Shining, and that if Danny is ever in trouble he should contact him.

The trio settle in, and at first everything seems fine, but one day when Wendy and Danny are out in the village, Jack finds a wasps nest on the roof. He kills the wasps and lets Danny keep it in his room.

That night, the wasp nest suddenly comes back to life, and Danny is badly stung. He is taken to the Doctor, and he tells the Doctor about Tony.

Jack goes outside, but he feels he is being watched. When he turns around, the hedge animals have changed their positions. Jack runs back inside, but the Hedge Animals change back to their original poses.Jack remembers how he lost his job. A boy who was angry at him slashed his car tyres, and he beat the boy up.

It begins to snow, and being up in the hills, The Overlook is cut off from outside communication. Danny goes through the corridors, and he steals the key to room 217. When he tries to go inside, he hears a growling noise, and one of the doors of the guest rooms begins to open up, so he runs away.

Later on, Wendy finds confetti in the elevator, along with a cat mask.

Jack finds an old scrapbook in the basement, and he finds out about a shootout in the presidential suite and a party held by the ex owner in the 1940s. He begins to write a book about it.

Danny goes outside, but he has an encounter with the hedge animals. He also tries to go into room 217 again, and this time he gets in. He finds a dead body inside, and he runs away, but it grabs him from behind.

Wendy begins to get stressed about how obsessive Jack is getting, and she thinks that he is drinking again, even though he isn't.

Wendy and Jack find Danny at the top of the stairs, but he has bruises on his neck. Wendy thinks it was Jack, so she locks herself and Danny in a room. Eventually, Jack convinces her it wasn't him, and Danny tells them everything he knows. Jack goes to Room 217, and he sees the zombie. He hits it on the head with a hammer, and it dies. When he blinks it is gone though.

Jack tells Wendy that there is nothing in Room 217, but he thinks that the zombie is the lady that committed suicide. Jack goes into the office, and he remembers how his father was an alcoholic, and that one day he came home and almost murdered his mother. When Jack begins hearing his Father's voice on the radio, encouraging him to kill Wendy and Danny, he smashes the radio, which is the only communication.

Afterwards, Wendy comes and sees the broken Radio. He apologizes, but Wendy is not worried. She tells him that they need to leave for Danny's sake. To convince her there is nothing to worry about, he seduces her and they have sex.

Danny sees the word RedRuM on the wall, and it turns backwards. He then realizes it spells MuRdeR, so he contacts Dick. Dick gets the message and catches a flight to get to the Overlook. Danny goes into the corridor past room 217, and the door that opened earlier is slammed open, and a man dressed as a dog jumps out. He threatens that he will eat Danny, starting at his cock, and Danny runs away.

Jack goes into the restaurant and enters a party of ghosts. He feels attracted to a woman in a Cat Mask, and she says "I'm meant to be with Harry, but he's busy elsewhere. We could go upstairs and I could give you the fuck of your life" but Jack refuses. He then meets the ghost of Owen Grady, the caretaker that killed his family and then himself. Even though the ghosts and the Overlook actually want to absorb Danny's power, they convince Jack that he needs to kill Danny and Wendy, because they have crossed him too many times.

Wendy finds Jack, dazed and drunk, but that is impossible, because there is no alcohol in The Overlook. Before she can question it further, Jack attacks her and almost kills her, but Danny distracts him, giving Wendy time to knock Jack out with a bottle.

The Ghosts start attacking, but Wendy and Danny drag Jack and lock him up in the pantry. They go to the basement and break the lock, but the snowmobile has been broken by the ghosts.

Grady unlocks the door and lets Jack out. He finds a Croquet Mallet and attacks Wendy while Danny is sleeping. Wendy tries to stop him, but he breaks one of her ribs, causing her to stab him in the back and push him down a flight of stairs.

The Plane lands, and Dick drives up to the Overlook in a hired snowmobile. Before he even makes it, he is attacked by a hedge lion. He gets a lighter and sets the Lion on fire before driving up to the Overlook.

Wendy locks herself in the bathroom, but Danny is hiding somewhere else. Even though he has been stabbed, Jack breaks down the Bathroom door and attempts to kill her, but she cuts his hand with some razor blades. Grady warns Jack that Dick is arriving, so Jack goes to investigate.

Armed with a rifle, Dick enters, but Jack ambushes him and supposedly kills him. Jack then goes upstairs and finds Danny hiding. Danny is given a warning by Tony that Jack has forgotten something. Jack begins changing back to his usual self and tells Danny to save himself and his mother, but before Danny can, the hotel takes control, and just to make sure Jack can't come back, the Hotel makes him smash his own face in with the croquet mallet. The walking corpse of Jack is about to kill Danny, and then Danny remembers what his daddy had forgotten: He had only checked the boiler once.

The corpse runs to the boiler. Danny and Wendy manage to wake up Dick, and the trio make it to the snowmobile just as the overlook explodes.

One year later and after a police investigation into a "Terrible accident that took the life of Jack Torrance", Wendy and Danny are staying with Dick for a while. Danny expresses concerns that the Hotel is not dead, but Dick assures him that it is all over.

Quotes

 * "Come here you bitch! You slut! Apparently even after I fucked you, you didn't take your damn medicine! Come down and take it NOW!"-Possessed Jack Torrance

Cast

 * Cameron Monaghan as John 'Jack' Torrance
 * Jessica Lawrence as Wendy Torrance
 * Someone as Daniel 'Danny' Torrance
 * Danny Glover as Dick Hallorann
 * Jude Law as Owen Grady
 * James Franco as Stuart Ullman
 * Michael Chiklis as Peter 'Pete' Watson