[user104658]

Originally Posted by hijaxers

I thought The Shiing was dreadful and all the actors mis-cast after reading the book.

100% agree - it's a decent horror film but it is an abysmal adaptation of the source material. Jack Nicholson played Jack as a bit mental/menacing/scary from the outset. Shelley Duvall played Wendy as timid/scared/anxious from the outset.

They're supposed to start off seeming relatively normal and then completely unravelling psychologically as time goes on...

...it's literally the entire point of the book. It's basically the whole story. And of course the other vital story beat is Jack's eventual "moment of clarity" that allows him to destroy the hotel (and himself along with it) ... which they changed in favour of a "creepier ending" for the film.

SO yeah to reiterate... it's a well made horror film but it's a really shockingly bad conversion of the book that completely misses the point.