“Stephen King's 'Maddening and Perverse' The Shining Tops HBO Max Charts” — what this page in the network covers. Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror classic The Shining is enjoying a major resurgence on HBO Max this week, climbing to the top of the streaming platform's most-watched list. The film, based on Stephen King's 1977 novel, stars Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, a writer who descends into madness while caretaking the isolated Overlook Hotel with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and psychic son Danny (Danny Lloyd).
Despite its enduring popularity, King has famously criticized the adaptation, once calling it 'maddening and perverse' and feeling it missed the emotional core of his story. Kubrick's version, with its iconic imagery—the elevator of blood, the twin girls, 'Here's Johnny!'—has become a cultural touchstone, even as King later approved the 1997 TV miniseries as a more faithful adaptation. For the complete material, the listing points back to the source inside the network.