When ‘The Shining’ was first released on 23 May 1980, it was not received well by the audience or the critics. It was labeled as confusing and a story without “rhyme and reason”. However, after years the film was re-evaluated. ‘The Shining’ was admired for its deep reflection on human psychoanalysis. This is not the first time a Stanley Kubrick film was deemed flopped at first but was appreciated later. Today, ‘The Shining’ stands as one of the best horror movies of all time.
The film focuses on Jack Torrence, who moves into the isolated Overlook Hotel with his family for the winter. Jack is a recovering alcoholic who takes up the job as a caretaker of the hotel. He finds the remote setting of the hotel ideal to write his book. However, the beautiful walls of the hotel start closing in on Jack. He starts getting cabin fever and soon turns on his wife and son. Let’s see which hotel turned Jack unstable.
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Timberline Lodge
Timberline Lodge is a mountain lodge where ‘The Shining’ was filmed. This picturesque lodge is located on the south of Mount Hood in Clackamas County, Oregon. Constructed in 1938, this lodge was built and furnished by local artisans. It is a four-storeyed lodge spread over 40,000 square feet of the ground. The interiors consist of handcrafted woodwork and stone structure. Moreover, while construction the lodge was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 28 September 1937. The lodge offers excellent skiing prospects.
Timberline Lodge is a National Historic Landmark in the United States. And ‘The Shining’ was not the only movie that was filmed here. ‘Bend of the River’ (1952), ‘All The Young Men’ (1960), ‘Lost Horizon’ (1973), ‘Hear No Evil’ (1993), and ‘Wild’ (2014) are the other movies that were filmed in Timberline Lodge. While ‘The Shining’ was shooted here, the management asked the filmmakers to change the room number to a fictional one. So that people would not scare away from staying in the room. Hence the crew came up with room number “237”.
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The Inspiring Hotel
As we all know ‘The Shining’ film is based on a book of the same title by the author Stephen King. Therefore there must be an inspiring hotel behind that motivated the celebrated author to write this fictional horror. In 1974, King and his wife Tabitha checked in at The Stanley Hotel. It was October and the hotel was preparing to close for the season. Hence King and his wife were the only two guests for the night. The hotel was grand and huge but empty. Tabitha and King were the only two people in the dining hall for dinner and were served the only meal that was available for the night.
After dinner, King refused to call it a night like his wife. He instead took a stroll in the long hallways of the hotel. When Stephen slide into his sheets to sleep, he had a nightmare. He saw his son running in the hallways of the hotel, screaming. The poor kid was chased by a fire hose. King woke up panting and sweating. He lit a cigarette, and the writer knew he had a structure for another story.
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