Firstly the isolation element is banged into us hard. Soon Jack sweet talks the hotel owner into giving hin the caretakers job and is told about the former murder tragedy ten years ago. It's well acted.
Shelley does a good job as Wendy. She plays a nervous wreck well. Danny talks to his finger and calls it his imaginative friend Tony. Yeah Danny's weird from the start. A nurse examines Danny and misses signs of obvious mental issues because... she's awful at her job? Even after shes told Jack is violent when drunk and broke Danny's arm.
As the Torrance family drive to the hotel we see Jack is in fact cold and condescending.
They get a tour of the hotel. For some reason Danny wasn't taken along, which is an odd decision considering the place is huge and new to them. Danny was found outside. Dick the cook picks up that Danny had the same Shining gift and tells Danny more about it. He says the Hotel has an imprint. Danny talks about room 237. Not sure why. Dick says nothing is in that room. Dick says nothing is in that room but implies there may be with his tone....
Month later. Danny is riding a pedal car through the corridors. Yes it's a nice shot. Kubrick fans cream. Jack can't write and is an ass to Wendy as usual. Danny sees images of the past murder and twin girls. Danny talks to his finger again because it's a coping mechanism and creepy.
Some creepy scenes with music follow. Then some more.
Jack is accused by Wendy of hurting Danny after Danny appears hurt. This accusation seems a catalyst for Jack to go more insane. Jack ends up in the bar drinking after he says he'd sell his soul. Does Jack have the shining ability or is this something else? Something else. Jack talks to the ghost in familiar terms so he knows them. Jack says he has a problem with the sperm bank upstairs. I think he's referring to his mind and his sex drive or sexual frustration. It's not clear. It's clear Jack hates Wendy.

Now is the start of Wendy running around screaming. Get used to it. Wendy explains that Danny says he got hurt in room 237 by a women. Didnt dick say they cant hurt you? That nothing was in room 237? But Jack goes to room 237 to confront the supposed women that hurt Danny. He sees her but instead of being angry at the women that hurt his son he's horny. Because she's naked duh. Problems with the sperm bank upstairs? So jack is kissing the woman who hurt Danny then she becomes vile looking.

So... Dick said the spirits can't hurt you. Danny says they did but maybe that was just a trick to get Jack up there and in the room as we never see Danny enter 237. Jack says Danny hurt himself like in an accident before they came to the hotel. Whats that mean? Wendy never mentioned this to the nurse. So if Jack did hurt Danny why would he even bother going to the room? If the ghosts know Jack as the caretaker why would they scare him? It's probably explained better in the book.
Wendy mentions leaving the hotel and Jack gets angry. He has previously told Danny that he never ever wanted them to leave there. Which I think means he had planned to kill them and keep the spirits there as ghosts.
Jack goes back to the bar for another drink. Are they real drinks? Looking closely he seems to pop a pill but I could be wrong. Jack has a spilt drink cleaned from him by Mr Grady. Guess the Indian burial ground idea means nothing at this point? Grady warns Jack that Danny has called Dick with his mind and that he has a gift. So Grady can read Danny's mind?
It's assumed Grady was a murderer. We're the twins and the woman in the bath his victims? Dunno. At this point Danny is in some weird meditative state because now he doesn't need dialogue and we can have some more weird shots. Wendy discovers that Jack hasn't been writing apart from the same line for months. Jack mocks Wendy and is menacing. Wendy is the first one to cause physical harm and knock Jack out with a bat. She's terrified and rightly so. She's locks him in the food storage room. Jack tells Wendy he has destroyed the snow car and communication in that way bad guys in bond movies reveal their plan. It's funny to watch. Grady let's Jack out of the room. So these ghosts can definetly interact now? Then why don't they just kill Danny?The shining ability seems irrelevant. Whats it done? Danny's snaps out of his trance coma just in time for Jack to start attacking with the axe. So Danny and Wendy separate. Can't remember how. Now Wendy starts seeing visions. Why? How? Just an excuse for Wendy to run around screaming and for more imagery, which further makes the shining's supernatural power more irrelevant. What a mess.
Jack is chasing Danny in the cold. Jack seems way more effected by the cold than Danny for some reason. Danny escapes with Wendy and Jacks freezes to death. We see an old photo of the hotel and Jack is in it. I think this ending is supposed to make us creep out but it's pretty cheap feeling. What's that about anyway? Another idea thrown in and unconcerned.

It's not a bad movie as it's entertaining and we'll made. I can't give it the status of best horror as it's remembered more for one liners and laughs and even technical skill over horror. It didnt even have a message. Ideas and plot float about and mean nothing. It's shows that if something is filmed good enough and over acted enough you can shove it in a horror and people will like it. I liked it! Also the random stuff for the sake of it because it's weird. Let's take the guy in the bear suit with his ass exposed. In the book this is apparently explained and Kubrick never bothers. He knew that because it's Kubrick we'll look into it deeper and give meaning for him and be amazed. He knows he could fart bubbles in a bath and people would say it's genius or have depth. I enjoyed this movie for what it was not everything else... Not the child abuse undertones. Not the moon landing conspiracy etc...

Some of dialogue is great and tells us want we need to know with no filler and with impact. I wanted more of that. Nicolas is both a good crazy man and and funny one. I didn't even mind that. Jacks insanity breakdown surely would have been more effective if he had started as a nicer man? They never even looked like a family once. I didn't care for the characters.

This isn't a negative review but it's to counter the positive absurdity that come with movies like this.