In The Shining, a father, a mother, and a son spend the winter as caretakers of a remote, isolated hotel, only to find themselves lost in a nightmare of psychic horror. Stanley Kubrick’s film makes the most of atmosphere; the fictional Overlook Hotel makes as much of an impression as any of the individuals who haunt its labyrinthine corridors where past and present meet in acts of violence. In The Shining, evil is a terrifying force, one that reaches from a history of human transgression and malice into the heart of the nuclear family.
—Ryan Holt