How Scary is The Shining?

[jonesmmichelle1]

I thought the Shining was an amazing book and movie! I was so intrigued by it that I have visited the Stanley Hotel multiple times. However, I did find out that the Stanley is not where the movie was filmed. I found the book to be scarier than the movie, I feel this in part is due to my imagination and how I visualize the details in the book.

[open-book]

I completely agree with you! I found that the book was much better than the film, although the movie is actually a classic I have watched many times. The book was packed full of so much more detail in regards to so many aspects that were left out of the movie. I love the hedge animals!! They should have included them in the movie for sure!

Also I have to confess, whilst reading the book I had a nightmare that I was stuck in the overlook hotel and couldn't get out! I just kept running through those corridors with that crazy carpet haha lol

[Dashkova]

There are two parts that really scared me: when Jack goes to check what scared Danny and he ALMOST opens the bathroom door, but turns away and as he does so...he hears something from within step toward the bathroom door to let him IN. Holy cow. That horrified me.

ME TOO. Those were the exact same parts that scared me the most. My mom told me once that in a Stephen King interview when asked if he was ever scared while writing he said only once and that it was when writing the 217 scene. I don't know if he meant the Danny one or the Jack one, but the Jack one was way scarier to me so I'm just gonna assume he meant that one. Another really scary part was when someone(I forget who, I assume Dick) was remembering when a hotel worker got fired for having a ghostly experience in 217 and he mentioned how she saw the dead old lady grinning. It was really brief, like one sentence even, but it was really scary.

Also, the scene out on the grounds with Jack and the animal-shaped hedges. You'd think that such a setting would be comical, but no. No. The SUSPENSE!

It's weird because both Danny and Jack experienced the bathroom lady and the hedges, but the encounters that adult Jack faced scared me more than what "helpless" kid Danny faced. Shouldn't I have been more frightened for the kid?

I feel the same way, I didn't find the scenes where the topiary animals were attacking to be scary at all, I thought it was way creepier with Jack where he never actually saw them AS they moved and just saw them in new positions each time he looked. I think it's the same thing with Jack vs Danny's experiences in 217, it's that Jack never really sees anything that makes it creepier. I think you're probably like me where you happen to find subtler, more mysterious things scarier than stuff that's more over-the-top and I think it's because the smaller, subtler things are more believable. Stuff that is obviously fantastical and completely unbelievable is not the kind of stuff that makes my skin crawl and the hairs stand up.

It's scary in that watching Jack's slow, painful slide is plausible enough to be terrifying. The hotel is only intensifying what's already there and one of the themes is the effects addiction and violence has over generations, so some of the worst parts (to me) are the flashbacks of the way's Jack's life has already been poisoned. The actual supernatural stuff is definitely creepy but is almost more like a symptom than a cause of Jack's degeneration.

Completely agree.

[godreaujea]

I don't think it is as frighting as Stanley Kubrick's version, if you've watched that. There are moments that are a bit scary, but it is definitely not one of King's scariest.

[H0LD0Nthere]

It sounds like the book would be too SAD for me. Jack had some father issues, perhaps? Abusive home? Horrible childhood memories? That's the kind of thing that made me put down Salem's Lot.

[Abdullai Rogers]

Reading thr book is better because it train the mind on the act of imagination

[Lennycat]

In my opinion, I thought The Shining was pretty darn scary. At the time that I read it, I lived alone in a city that I had just moved to and didn't know anyone yet. I would read it at night before going to sleep and scare the crap out of myself overtime I heard a strange creek or the sound of the radiator going on and off. It was a book that I couldn't put down.

[Joanna82]

I read it recently, and since I only had time to read it at night, it seemed scarier to me. It was definitely scarier than the movie. Now I'm reading the sequel, Doctor Sleep.

[bluegreenmarina]

I've had this same question so I appreciated reading this thread to find out the difference. I've seen the movie only, but now I'm interested in picking up the book to explore the psychological element.

[NikkyT]

I'm really glad I came across this thread, this is on my TBR list for this year, I feel a bit more ready for it now

[Djorita]

The Shining was right up there with Salem's Lot & Carrie. Even the movie gave me the creepy crawlies.

[Writing queen]

I loved both book and movie. When I first read the book I was looking over my shoulder for a few weeks. Same with the movie. I couldn't believe how scared I got.

[Meenahhhh]

Quite scary. I saw it in my first year of university for a hostel movie night and I was scared out of my mind.

[Charlienmegan Wehner]

I think The Shining is pretty scary although I get scared fairly easily. In my opinion, the movie wasn’t as scary as the book, however, I would recommend both!

[Ashna Tibrewal]

I don't find it scary, I did find IT extremely scary because I fear clowns.