Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is having a good October.
The 1980 horror film climbed to No. 7 on HBO Max’s U.S. movie chart on Oct. 15, up from No. 10 on Oct. 11, according to FlixPatrol. The rise comes two weeks before Halloween, when viewers start looking for something that will actually keep them up at night.
It also lands days before American fans get something they’ve never been able to own: a different version of the film.
The Version Americans Have Never Owned
On Oct. 20, the Criterion Collection releases The Complete Kubrick, a 4K and Blu-ray box set that collects all 13 of the director’s feature films, from Paths of Glory to Eyes Wide Shut, and three shorts. Among its extras is the international cut of The Shining, which has never been released on U.S. home video.
Kubrick trimmed that version for audiences outside the United States after the film opened here on May 23, 1980. It runs 115 minutes, compared with the 144-minute cut American audiences know, which means Kubrick removed 29 minutes. The set also includes a new 4K restoration of Vivian Kubrick’s behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the film.
Why Stephen King Never Came Around
The film is based on Stephen King’s 1977 novel, and King has never hidden how he feels about Kubrick’s take on it.
“The book is hot, and the movie is cold; the book ends in fire, and the movie in ice,” King told Rolling Stone in 2014.
His main complaint was Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance. In the novel, Torrance is a man trying to stay good who slowly comes apart. In the film, King said, Jack seemed “crazy from the first scene.”
Still Among the Greatest Thrillers
Audiences and critics have mostly sided with Kubrick. The American Film Institute ranked The Shining No. 29 on its 100 Years…100 Thrills list, which honors the most heart-pounding movies in American film history.
The film stars Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers. Nicholson plays a writer who takes a job as the winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel and moves in with his wife and young son. His ax and his “Here’s Johnny!” scene remain among the most recognizable images in horror, and the ax itself is headed to auction as part of a major Kubrick collection.
A Big Week for Nicholson on HBO Max
The Shining isn’t Nicholson’s only film drawing viewers on the platform right now. The 1992 courtroom drama A Few Good Men and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed have both been on HBO Max’s chart this month.
For viewers who want the version most Americans grew up with, The Shining is streaming on HBO Max now. Those who want to compare it with Kubrick’s shorter cut will get that chance for the first time when Criterion’s box set arrives on Oct. 20.
