Recommendations of the Editorial team
For a long time, you couldn’t even see the American, longer version of Stanley Kubrick’s “Shining” in Europe. That’s been over for some time now. The director’s less preferred version has long been available on Blu-ray. In addition, both versions of the classic horror film can be seen as 4K films in top quality.
But it can be done one step better: For the first time, “Shining” will be shown in premium large-screen format in IMAX cinemas worldwide. However, not on Halloween, but only on December 12, 2025. There are no tickets for sale yet and the film is not yet listed at any of the major cinema chains, but it can be assumed that some will soon have the literary adaptation, which was reviled by Stephen King, in their program.
Anyone who has never seen “The Shining” on the big screen should take advantage of the opportunity – because the film only achieves its full, suggestive, hypnotic effect in the cinema. A first trailer already gives an impression of the high image and sound quality (however, playing it on a laptop is of little use!).
In “The Shining,” the normally dry alcoholic Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) falls into madness when he spends the winter days at the Overlook Hotel with his wife and clairvoyant son for a well-paid job as a caretaker. Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation received mixed reactions when it was released, but quickly became a classic of the genre thanks to Jack Nicholson’s iconic performance.
Finally understand “The Shining”.
The documentation “Room 237” reflects with an ironic touch the complex theories that have arisen around the richly detailed film (among other things, clues are presented as to why Kubrick hints here in code that he staged the moon landing).
The XL volume “Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining”, published by Taschen-Verlag, also shows photos from the set that have been unknown for a long time and reproduces every anecdote and actually all the development steps of the production on over 500 pages.