The Shining

Main Plot

In "The Shining," directed by Stanley Kubrick, a writer takes a job as the winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel, bringing his family along. As winter sets in, the hotel becomes snowbound, and the writer's mental state begins to deteriorate under the influence of the hotel's dark and supernatural forces. His son, who possesses psychic abilities, starts experiencing disturbing visions of the hotel's violent past. As the writer's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and dangerous, the family struggles to survive the mounting terror. The film explores themes of isolation, madness, and the supernatural, building tension through its eerie atmosphere and unsettling imagery.

Characters

• Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a writer and winter caretaker who descends into madness, endangering his family in a haunted hotel.
• Shelley Duvall plays Wendy Torrance, the wife of Jack Torrance, who struggles to protect her son from her increasingly unstable husband in a haunted hotel.
• Danny Lloyd plays Danny Torrance, a young boy with psychic abilities who senses the malevolent forces at the isolated Overlook Hotel, crucially impacting the story's tension and horror.

Ending Explained

In the climax of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," Jack Torrance, driven mad by the malevolent forces within the Overlook Hotel, chases his wife Wendy and son Danny with a murderous intent. Wendy manages to lock Jack in the pantry, but he is later freed by the ghostly presence of Delbert Grady. As Jack pursues Danny through the hotel's hedge maze, Wendy and Danny escape the hotel in a snowcat vehicle. Danny cleverly eludes Jack by retracing his steps in the snow, causing Jack to become hopelessly lost. Ultimately, Jack succumbs to the freezing temperatures and dies in the maze. The film concludes with a haunting image: a photograph from 1921 showing Jack at a July 4th ball, implying that he has somehow become a part of the hotel's dark history. This ambiguous ending suggests that Jack's fate was intertwined with the hotel's supernatural elements, leaving viewers to ponder the cyclical nature of the hotel's influence and the possibility that Jack has always been a part of its eerie legacy.