BlackEden I've been putting off this series for years... and I wish I still did. It may be close to the book in terms of the full story, but the live-action rendition is god awful. The acting is SO bad that I couldn't even get through it all. I actually laughed at some of the scenes where Jack was supposed to be angry, and Danny was supposed to be crying, because both were completely unconvincing. Don't even get me started on the actress who played Wendy...Please, Mr. King, stick to what you do best: writing. Leave the movie-making to those who are trained to do so.

geolot1256 I just re-watched what I will call the "real" movie (even though it wasn't the Stephen King authorized version) and then watched the miniseries version the next day. Wow, the miniseries was an amateurish joke with no comparison to SK's version (I don't care that it departed from the book, since we are talking about movies here).The TV version was flat, cheesy, overdone with the ghosts (which took away their effect). The series just seemed like it was going through the paces to get the plot elements on screen as quickly..The ghost in the black tuxedo was pathetic and the one in the white one wasn't much better. The hotel was not spooky in the slightest and the hedge animals were as scary as Jar-Jar Binks. There was no atmosphere to the location and there was no feel or mood to the scenes.. it was just so one-dimensional in comparison.The actors for the two male roles were also not suited to them IMO. I know people complain about Jack Nicolson being too crazy from the outset, and this departs from Stephen King's version, but I am OK with that after having seen it done both ways.. In the TV version, he never gets there and you can tell he isn't capable of getting there. And the boy: OMG so annoying and flat. The conversations between him and mom with dialog like "it's not dad, it's the hotel..." unconvincing and no true fear, just cold and robotic.The Danny Loyd version was chilling and the TV one was annoying and formulaic.Shelly Duval also did an awesome job of conveying the fear and despair of Wendy's predicament- very believable.I could go on, but won't.... suffice it to say, I was embarrassed for the TV miniseries creators after seeing it.

OllieSuave-007 This is a very good mini-series adaptation on the horror classic, a story about the Torrence Family who become caretakers for an isolated hotel. The son, Daniel Torrence (Courtlead Mead) sees paranormal images of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as "The Shining." The father, Jack Torrance (Steven Weber), is slowly being driven insane by the spirits that lurk the hotel, threatening his wife Winifred (Rebecca DeMorney) and Daniel.The creepiness and eerie atmosphere of the hotel gave the perfect setting for the movie, making the audience jump when demonic creatures appear and when horrific events occur. The characters, for the most part, did a nice job portraying their roles - not on the same league as the actors in the original movie, but still on par in delivering some great performances. I think the cast in this mini-series was more engaging and I feel you actually connect and understand them better than the more eerie and unpredictable characters in the original film. The plot, for me, was easier to follow and grasp than the original movie and I thought the subplot about Daniel seeing an image of a young man, guiding him during difficult times, was a nice additional to the plot; it actually made the story more captivating. I also enjoyed the parts where the protagonists take on the evil spirits and how ***spoiler ahead*** the ending actually wraps the story better than the original film.Overall, it's a very good horror mini-series for a scare.Grade B+

xllxlx Kubrick's The Shining is better in every way: scenery, actors, music, mountains, ghosts, camera shots, etc.In this miniseries... the actors aren't so good, the scenery is worse, it isn't creepy or scary at all... the hotel is way too well lite and too small for ghosts to be appearing out of the blue. The ghosts and the hotel don't go well together.Mr. Ulmen in the miniseries sucks... Mr. Halleron isn't as good either, neither are the parents or kid.Just avoid the miniseries... only get the King novel and Kubrick's The Shining.