Here is The Shining's plot for those of you young people who are emailing me telling me they have never seen this film

The film tells the story of a writer, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), who accepts the job of the winter caretaker at a hotel that always gets snowed in during the winter. Jack's son shares psychic abilities with the hotel's chef who calls it "shining". They can see things in the future or past, such as the ghosts of murdered people in the hotel. As the hotel becomes snowbound, Jack Torrance becomes influenced by the ghosts in the haunted hotel, descending into madness and trying to murder his wife and son.
The novel's author Stephen King had very conflicted feelings about the film (see Reception and Comparison with the book) which have oscillated over time. A TV mini-series adaptation of the novel broadcast in 1997 saw King more actively involved.

Contents [hide] 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Alternate cuts 3.1 Original theatrical cut 3.2 European release 4 Production 5 Reception 6 Social interpretations of the film 6.1 Native Americans 6.2 Kubrick's concern with the Holocaust 7 Literary allusions 7.1 Fairy tales 8 Ambiguities in the film 8.1 Ghosts and mirrors 8.2 The Two Gradys 8.3 The Photograph 8.4 Disorientation 9 Comparison with the book 9.1 Character arc of Jack Torrance 9.2 Resulting characterization of Wendy Torrance and Stuart Ullmann 9.3 Danny Torrance 9.4 Family dynamics 9.5 Motivation of ghosts 9.6 Plot differences 9.7 Defense of how the book was adapted 10 Music and soundtrack 11 In popular culture 12 Legacy 13 Awards 14 References 15 External links

[edit] Plot

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) arrives at the Overlook Hotel for a job interview. Manager Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) warns him that a previous caretaker got cabin fever and killed his family and himself during the long winter in which the hotel is entirely isolated. The hotel itself is built on the site of an Indian burial ground. Jack’s son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), has ESP and has had terrifying premonitions about the hotel. Jack's wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), tells a visiting doctor about Danny's imaginary friend "Tony" and that Jack had given up drinking because he had physically abused Danny after a binge.
The family arrives at the hotel on closing day and is given a tour. The elderly African-American chef Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) surprises Danny by speaking to him telepathically and offering him some ice cream. He explains to Danny that he and his grandmother shared the gift; they called the communication "shining". Danny asks if there is anything to be afraid of in the hotel, particularly Room 237. Hallorann tells Danny that the hotel has a certain "shine" to it and many memories, not all of them good and advises him to stay out of room 237 under all circumstances.
A month passes and Jack's writing project is going nowhere. Meanwhile, Danny and Wendy have fun and go in the hotel's hedge maze; Jack discovers a model of this maze, showing Wendy and Danny inside it, in one of the hotel lounges. Wendy is concerned about the phone lines being out due to the heavy snowfall and Danny has more frightening visions. Danny’s curiosity about Room 237 finally gets the better of him when he sees the room has been opened. Later, Danny shows up injured and visibly traumatized causing Wendy to think that Jack has been abusing Danny. Jack wanders into the hotel’s Gold Room where he meets a ghostly bartender named Lloyd (Joe Turkel) who serves him bourbon on the rocks. Jack complains to the bartender about his relationship with Wendy. Afterward, Wendy shows up and apologizes for accusing Jack, explaining that Danny told her a "crazy woman in one of the rooms" was responsible for his injuries. Jack investigates Room 237 and has an encounter with the ghost of a dead woman there, but tells Wendy he saw nothing. Wendy and Jack argue about whether Danny should be removed from the hotel and Jack returns to the Gold Room, now filled with ghosts having a costume party. Here he meets who he believes is the ghost of the previous caretaker Delbert Grady (Philip Stone) who tells Jack that he has to "correct" his wife and child. Later, Jack sabotages the hotel radio, cutting off communication from the outside world.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Dick Hallorann gets a premonition that something is wrong at the hotel and takes a flight back to Colorado to investigate. Danny starts calling out the word "redrum" frantically and goes into a trance now calling himself "Tony". Wendy discovers Jack's typewriter and that he has been typing endless pages of manuscript repeating "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" formatted in various ways. Horrified, she confronts Jack, but he threatens her before she knocks him unconscious with a baseball bat and locks him in a kitchen pantry. Jack converses through the door with Grady, who then releases him.
Danny has written "REDRUM" in lipstick on the door of Wendy’s bedroom revealing itself in the mirror to be "murder" spelled backwards. At that moment, Jack, armed with a fire axe, begins to chop through the door leading to his family's living quarters. In a frantic maneuver, Wendy sends Danny out through the bathroom window but she is unable to fit through the window herself. Jack then starts chopping the bathroom door down with the axe and leers through the hole he has made, shouting the now iconic "Here's Johnny!" line, but backs off after Wendy slashes his hand with a butcher knife. Hearing a running engine outside (from Hallorann's snowcat), Jack leaves the room and begins to wander about the hotel; Hallorann is killed in a surprise attack moments after entering the lobby. Jack then begins to pursue Danny and is led into the hedge maze. Jack follows Danny's footsteps, but is misled when Danny manages to walk backwards in his own tracks and leaps behind a corner, covering his tracks with snow. Wendy and Danny escape in Hallorann's vehicle while Jack slowly freezes to death in the hedge maze.

The photograph on the hotel wall: Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921. A young Jack stands smiling in the bottom center.

The final shot of the film is of an old photograph taken at the hotel on July 4, 1921 in which Jack Torrance is clearly visible while Midnight, the Stars, and You^[3] is being played through the hallways. It is worth noting that the actual song, however, was not written until 1932.