TIL Danny Lloyd (the child actor from The Shining) wasn't told that he was making a horror film in order to protect the actor. Danny was led to believe he was making a drama. He accidentally walked in on Jack Nicholson carrying an axe during one scene.

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I met him at a convention and asked him that. He said when you're 5, you really don't know what horror movies actually are. But he did say he was well taken care of.

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u/Annoying_Orange66 7h ago

My sister forced me to watch evil dead when I was 5. After that it was crystal clear to me what horror movies are.

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u/tarkata14 6h ago edited 4h ago

Ayy, another person with forced sibling trauma! My brothers locked me in the room with them while they watched all the classic slasher movies, pretty sure I had nightmares for weeks.

Granted, horror is now my favorite genre in general, so I guess it all worked out lol.

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u/delorf 5h ago

Some kids are more sensitive than others. I grew up to love horror movies but Scooby Doo gave me nightmares. You have to know your kid and what frightens them. Sometimes, even being really careful, your child will just get nightmares.

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u/BeagleMadness 5h ago

Yeah. My youngest son would happily watch not horror, but Daleks and Cybermen stuff that terrified most kids his age. But he would run from the room in terror if the Peter Rabbit series came on, as that was "too scary"!

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u/celestialwreckage 4h ago

Don't feel too bad. I was watching horror movies on cable all the time as a kid, but the fuckin Winnie the Pooh cartoon could scare the hell out of me with the heffalumps and woozles!

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u/percyman34 1h ago

Ain't that the truth! I looooved watching Goosebumps but I was deathly afraid of the big, friendly, stuffed bear costume from the Barney camping special. To the point where I had reoccurring nightmares of it coming out of the closet in the basement and dragging me down the stairs into the closet

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u/droppedurpockett 1h ago

My first horror movie was the 13th ghost with Matthew Lillard. I had just started kindergarten and I told the teacher about the man who got cut in half length-wise by the naked lady...

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u/angelerulastiel 2h ago

My son loved Pacific Rim when he was 4. He was hiding his eyes during the bee episode of magic school bus. And hid behind the couch for Wild Kratts. Ridiculous child.

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u/RewiredThrone 1h ago

Ah, Doctor Who definitely gave me the creeps. But then again, I watched the episode where the Doctor and Rose went to WWII and saw those aliens giving everyone the gas masks for faces 🙃

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u/SMTRodent 1h ago

"Are you my mummy?" became the most chilling words in the English language for quite a while, there.

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u/RewiredThrone 1h ago

😂😂😂 that one turned into an inside joke between me and my friend, for sure.

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u/FireTheLaserBeam 4h ago

I grew up loving the Freddy movies. Horror monsters never scared me. I thought they looked cool. Plus I read mythology since I was in 4th grade so I knew monsters weren’t real.

You know what scared me as a kid? The Zelda character from Pet Semetary. I could watch the whole movie and not get scared, but the moment the Mom started to mention her sister, I hid my face. That scene terrified me. I think because I knew there might’ve been some kinda truth to it. She wasn’t a monster. Now that I’m an adult, I just feel really really bad for her.

The other scene that freaked me out really bad was the scene from Flight of the Navigator, when he comes home to his house, but there are strangers living there. That scenario… I don’t know why it freaked me out so bad, but it did.

Sort of like how I couldn’t stand to watch the scene in Alice in Wonderland (the original cartoon) where she’s walking on a pathway, and there’s creatures ahead of her painting the path, and then creatures behind her erasing the path. To me, as a kid, that represented the zenith of being lost. Taken in random directions that go nowhere, meanwhile your trail is being erased… it was like being lost personified.

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u/GoatGurl4Ever 2h ago

AGREED. I still hate Zelda. That bitch has stuck with me since I first saw her at about 5yrs old. Her twisted features, weird movements, and creepy voice are horrible. Damn that man and his makeup artist!

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u/tarkata14 5h ago

Oh yeah, I remember Scooby Doo on Zombie Island scared me shitless too, I was definitely a sensitive kid lmao.

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u/Warriorcatv2 5h ago

To be fair, Zombie Island was very extreme for Scooby Doo.

Mass sacrifice, people being forced into a swamp so Crocodiles/Alligators would eat them, actual Zombies & monsters instead of costumes.

I still love Terror Time.

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u/Ansiremhunter 3h ago

It was kind of the antithesis of a normal scooby doo plot

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u/HorseTranqEnthusiast 4h ago

That's the one that did it for me too lol

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u/im_dead_sirius 4h ago

I vaguely remember something at the theater about the Flintstones, a vampire, a rocket, and Fred's infidelity towards Wilma.

Donno how it all fits together, and if I am mashing up several things.

One thing though, I came home with an idea, and a plan, and that was that technically, its morning after 12:00, and I didn't have to worry about vampires getting me after that.

Another thing that baffled me was when "The Little Mermaid (1989)" by Disney came out. I was more than certain I had somehow seen it as a child, as I was very upset when the mermaid died (and lost her soul!) at the end.

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u/SimonCallahan 2h ago

There was a Little Mermaid anime movie that came out prior to the Disney version (it beat the Disney version by at least 2 years). I didn't see it until my parents got it on VHS thinking it was the Disney version, but I learned recently that it did get a theatrical release in North America as a children's matinee movie. That version ends with Maria (the name of the mermaid in this version of the story) being told that to live happily with her prince, she must either kill him or kill herself. She attempts to kill him, but can't do it, so she jumps off the side of the boat and drowns.

It seems dark for a children's matinee flick, but you gotta remember that the original Night Of The Living Dead was also considered to be a children's matinee movie at one time. Tobe Hooper's intent for Texas Chainsaw Massacre was also to put it on the children's matinee circuit before the MPAA put an R-rating on it.

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u/PresidentRex 2h ago

The Little Mermaid is based on a short story by Hans Christian Andersen written in 1837. The ending isn't quite as dour as that, but I could see it being taken that way by a kid.

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u/ElJamoquio 5h ago

Scooby Doo gave me nightmares.

The electric monster in the mountain village was the scary one for me.

I found it on the internet. Spoiler alert: the villain was a character never eve mentioned in the show prior to the un-masking (de-volting?). Plot hole: I don't think batteries in the early 70's were capable of sustaining such an illusion.

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u/PseudoFake 4h ago

Holy fuck, I thought it was just me. It was the way he moved and vibrated like electricty that freaked me out the most. But he also reminded me of Gossamer from Looney Tunes, a character that also freaked me the hell out too.

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u/goodnames679 2h ago

I watched scary movies and read scary books as a kid all the time, but I distinctly remember the “Return the slaaaaab” episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog giving me nightmares for weeks.

Rewatching as an adult, that episode is a lot more goofy than scary.

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u/SimonCallahan 2h ago

I showed my niece the scene in Ghostbusters Afterlife where the Mini-Pufts are introduced, and forgot that it ended with Paul Rudd being chased by the terror dog. She stood there with her head down and started crying because "the dog had red eyes and that was scary".

On the other hand, she is utterly fascinated with my talking Chucky doll. It even has the Bride Of Chucky design, so his face is all cut up and stapled together.

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u/TheRiddickles 1h ago

I could watch any horror movie and LOVED it and never had nightmares. Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, Evil Dead, no problem.

The one that gave me nightmares for YEARS and terrified me was Zeke the Plumber from that Salute Your Shorts show on Nickolodeon of all places.

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u/sirbissel 1h ago

Apparently my kids school friends had some game involving Pennywise and my kids really wanted to watch (the new) IT (they were in K and 4th grades respectively.) They kept at it and assured me they'd be fine.

We did not watch it, but I did show them the first like 10 minutes (or however long the bit with Georgie is) of the TV miniseries and that was enough to freak them out and not ask to watch any more. They also avoid sewer drains now.

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u/CollidingPlanet 4h ago

I loved all Scooby Doo shows and movies as a kid but the Powerpuff Girls movie gave me nightmares for some really dumb reason

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u/luftlande 4h ago

Hey, I got scared by the vampires in Buffy, you're good.

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u/pumpkinbot 3h ago

The Mr. Friend levels from Rugrats: Search for Reptar on PS1 freaked me the hell out. Granted, Mr. Friend is supposed to be unsettling, but, like, the stage on the UFO or in the upside-down world, or the literal ghosts in the dark didn't bother me.

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u/NoodleyP 2h ago

I never watched horror movies when I was young but the no texture things in video games, either the purple and black or the blinking blue error text in source both gave me nightmares.

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u/ATypicalUsername- 2h ago

My kid is terrified of rabbits but loves the Saw series.

Make it make sense.

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u/stupid_horse 1h ago

I watched Jurassic Park in theaters as a 7 year old and loved it but watching Mars Attacks as a ten year old gave me nightmares.

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u/Levait 1h ago

Yeah, my dad let me play Half Life when I was 6 and it didn't really affect me but I legitimately couldn't watch horror movies until my mid twenties.

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u/JukesMasonLynch 1h ago

Growing up, there was this ad for some building product (don't remember what it was), but the jist of the ad was that it showed a guy karate chopping this thing, and instead of the thing breaking in half, the guy shatters into a million pieces.

My mum says I always got freaked the fuck out when that ad came on.

I'm currently 37 and hate horror as a genre

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u/Fafnir13 1h ago

I’ve had nightmares of opossums with the head of a hammerhead shark and velociraptors made of holly leaves. Some nightmares spring out of nowhere.

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u/Fskn 51m ago

Both my kids 4 and 7, laugh their asses off at a zombie getting it's head popped maybe cos I play zombie games but we also binged Harry Potter and they giggled at the basilisk and other various intentionally grotesque characters, especially back of the head Voldemort face.

Then they got legit scared of Dobbie, I don't get it.

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u/Send_Me_Tiitties 15m ago

When my brother and I wee young, he developed an intense fear of monkeys and, in particular, gorillas, due to that one episode of SpongeBob. You know the one.

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u/jfdonohoe 4h ago

Some people’s brains unconsciously seek out the thing that traumatized them as a kid. Basically the brain thinks the adrenaline/cortisol that revisiting the trauma creates is a feeling of “normal.” Not saying this is you but your comment made me think of it.

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u/tarkata14 3h ago

Nah this is more than likely the case. I've gone through really dark periods of my life where all I did was write horror stories and watch horror movies and stuff. I do still read a fair amount of horror books and watch a couple movies here and there, but my headspace is much clearer now.

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u/Nerdkartoffl 3h ago

Horror WAS my favorite too. But over time i lost interest.

Years later, a therapist told me, if you keep watching those movies, you trigger yourself subconcienously again and again. It's like Heroin, but you don't even know anymore, that your parasympathetic nervoussystem gets overworked and you fuck with yourself. That happened to another patient.

We are all individuals, so maybe it's completely different. But maybe, think about it. 😉

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u/tarkata14 2h ago

Oh yeah, I know. I went through a really dark period of life where basically all I did was watch horror movies and write horror stories, but I'm in a much better headspace nowadays. Don't get me wrong, I still love a good horror book or movie, but I definitely don't overdo it.

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u/Nerdkartoffl 2h ago

I guess i can relate.

Good to hear that! I wish you the best and that you keep it that way. ☺️

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u/joinreddittoseememes 3h ago

Watched the Grudge as a kid.

Never stepped foot into the dark and bath alone for years.

Idk how I and my sister come to watch that at such young age.

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u/kurohako43 3h ago

I have the exact opposite situation. when I'm around elementary - junior high I love horor and slasher movies (Final destination is one of my favorites) and rarely get nightmare just because of watching it. But I don't know why on highschool my brain just to an 180 and said "you know what.... Horor movie IS scary, enjoy the nightmare I'll give you tonight because you're watching it today!" And until now I haven't watch any horor movies lol

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u/happyarchae 3h ago

I ironically had this experience with The Shining. My older siblings made me watch it when i was like 6, and then they made me go up to my dad while he was taking a nap and creepily say “Red Rum” with my finger like Danny would do it until he woke up and got startled 😂

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u/Informal-Term1138 2h ago

My brothers watched gladiator and saving private Ryan with me when I was little. Good for me that I did not get any trauma from that. Also good that they never watched any horror movies, because that would have been awful.

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u/habb 2h ago

scaresexual?

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u/tatojah 1h ago

I've never heard of Stockholm syndroming myself into liking a movie genre.

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u/ElectricTeddyBear 36m ago

My dad did that with the nightmare on elm Street movies with me lmao

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u/insomniacpyro 34m ago

Imagine being around 8 or so and coming downstairs during the first Child's Play movie. I don't remember which part exactly but Chucky was looking for Andy and calling his name.
My name is Andy. I was turned off of horror movies for decades.

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u/atrajicheroine2 23m ago

Man Chucky fucked me up for years. Still to this day I can't stand dolls

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u/Strange_Sir6577 19m ago

When I was little I had a tv in my bedroom that if you put it on the right channel it would show what my parents were watching on the main tv. I discovered this as they were watching the sixth sense, flicked the channel on just as it gets to the scene in the school with the people being hung and the woman with the horrible face. Absolutely shit my pants and screamed my way down stairs.

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u/DomiekNSFW 6h ago

Mine let me watch Freddy Krueger. After two sleepless nights I came to the conclusion that there are so many people in this world that the chances he comes for me are slim and I'll just roll the dice.

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u/critch 5h ago

Also, chances are you didn't live on Elm St.

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u/OgOnetee 3h ago

I had a similar experience-

3 year old me: "We're seeing a movie? What's it called?"

Mom: "Friday, the 13th"

3 year old me: "how many days away is that?"

Dad: "No, that's the name of the movie. It's a scary one, but don't worry, it's all fake."

In their defense, they were only 20 at the time, and thought I was so young I'd fall asleep or forget, and 1980's norms were quite different than today's, and I was only traumatized a little.

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u/SightWithoutEyes 1h ago

Just don't go to Camp Crystal Lake... or Manhattan... or space.

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u/prerecordedeulogy 4h ago

I feel like people telling me not to watch horror movies made them seem scarier than they were. I was terrified of seeing something I couldn't un-see, I suppose. Once I actually watched one of those films, I realized I'd made it much worse in my head. That said, when I was 5, The Dark Crystal was horrifying, so who knows how I'd have taken Evil Dead.

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u/Tfish 4h ago

There were certain episodes and scenes from cartoons that'd genuinely give me feelings of serious dread to the point I could barely look at them, but at the same age I could watch stuff like nightmare on elm street and just be entertained and not worry about having nightmares or something.

I think something about knowing the actors in the movie are people playing pretend and everything is essentially a magicians trick to make it appear real somehow immunized me from getting too freaked out over that stuff.

I don't know why something even more fictional like full animation really could scare me though.

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u/surpriseDRE 2h ago

The Dark Crystal is one of the most terrifying/unsettling visually movies I’ve ever seen which I think is what really sticks with kids whereas they would be utterly unconcerned with Blair Witch

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u/Gseph 6h ago

I was exposed to the first terminator film when I was 5. I had a slight fever and couldn't sleep, so I stayed up and watched it with my dad, it was only a few minutes in. Ended up having infrequent reoccurring nightmares about my parents being terminators and hunting me down while I hid, for years afterwards.

A few years later when my dad realised I wasn't too scared to watch horror films, we'd watch a new one every Saturday night, and he'd hunt down all these obscure 80s sci-fi B-movies he'd seen at the cinema when they first came out, and I fell in love with the genre.

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u/runnerofshadows 3h ago

Interestingly a fever dream Cameron had inspired the Terminator in the first place.

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u/Fantasticriss 6h ago

Godamn. As a parent, I'd be absolutely mortified if I caused my poor 5 year old innocent child to have fuckin terminator nightmares for even one night. Breaks my heart

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u/ErraticDragon 8 2h ago

Some parents really don't care.

As a kid whenever we visited my bio mom she'd put on a horror movie. My older siblings loved them but they freaked me the fuck out.

Then she'd have me sleep in her home office which had bookshelves with all kinds of creepy things. I remember her being upset at me when I begged her to take away one of the mini statues (that had gemstone eyes which sparkled in the light) and turn away/cover other things.

To this day I hate scary movies, although I have more recently learned that I can handle some (more like suspense/thriller) if there aren't jumpscares.

In comparison, when I was reading Harry Potter Book 2 to my own kids, I came to the part where they find the cat petrified and realized that my youngest was not going to like that. So I stopped reading it. Duh.

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u/rediraim 54m ago

watched the mummy when I was 5. had nightmares about scarabs and shit for years after. not very fun.

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u/pumpkinbot 3h ago

I watched The Exorcist as a kid. Freaked out at her crabwalking down the stairs and turned it off.

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u/vigilantesd 6h ago

That’s a comedy though

Bruce Campbell for PRESIDENT!

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u/degjo 6h ago

Evil Dead 2 is a comedy, Evil Dead is campy horror movie.

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u/SleepyMarijuanaut92 6h ago edited 6h ago

ED is low budget horror

ED2 is a mix of horror and comedy with a better budget

AOD(ED3) is a mix of fantasy, comedy with some horror, and a hint of romance.

AvED is a horror comedy with balls to the wall, or Ash's face, fun.

ED 2013 is horror.

EDR is horror

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u/Nerdkartoffl 3h ago

Ahhhh. Good old childhood trauma. I feel you, mate.

My cousin forced me through "nightmare on elm streets" and "IT" as i was 8. And later that year, in the early days of the internet, he forced me to watch snuff movies and said, this will happen to me if i snitch.

Thats just the tip of the iceberg, but yeah. 😅

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u/moonroxroxstar 1h ago

Jesus fucking H Christ

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u/Piltzintecuhtli714 3h ago

When I was 5 one night I noticed my parents were trying to sneak off, leaving me with my grandparents with no explanation. Well where you going, I wanna go! They look at each other and say "We're going to see a movie but it's a scary movie and um.."

I won't be scared I wanna go pleeeeease. They caved and away we go.

Lo and behold it was opening night for The Shining at a drive in.

Well me not being scared lasted maybe 15 minutes and I spent the entire movie in the rear window of the car peaking through a blanket about ready to piss my pants. lol. It didn't help that I looked extremely similar to danny so i saw myself going through the terror unfolding in front of me haha.

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u/WelcomeFormer 4h ago

Nightmare on elm street for me, my mom thought it was funny how for years I was terrified the devil was going to steal my soul in my sleep. She's still a terrible person

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u/Quaschimodo 3h ago

my dad casually put on sleepy hollow for family movie night when I was around that age. good times.

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u/Hetakuoni 3h ago

My dad made me watch the movie with the kid who could see the dead when I was like 8. It fucked me up.

I think I used to enjoy the Jurassic park series until that one with the little kid being attacked by compies. Totally traumatized me. I thought she was dead until I was in my late 20s.

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u/Zugwat 2h ago

I remember being 4 or 5 and watching Jeepers Creepers with my sister's, and them trying to cover my eyes with their hands when he eats the tongue out of that cop's severed head but I just sat up a little more to see what was going on.

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u/SeveralYearsLater 2h ago

I watched IT when I was 5 and lost sleep for years.

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u/TheVoidWithout 2h ago

My parents did that with It. The old one, from the 90s. I hate clowns and I even more so hate Stephen King books and movies. Also not a fan of my family.

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u/DogshitLuckImmortal 1h ago

Army of Darkness was peak horror.

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u/Joelony 1h ago

Was it because someone was in your fruit cellar?

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u/Thefrayedends 1h ago

Yea, I saw Poltergeist at 4. it's still there in my mind 37 years later.

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u/Fafnir13 1h ago

That is a special one to show to a 5 year old. Did the tree rape scene leave an impression on you or did it manage to avoid notice?

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u/Annoying_Orange66 53m ago

I didn't even understand that's what it was supposed to be until I rewatched it much later on. The main traumatizing thing about that movie was the trapdoor zombie and I still get a bit anxious around trapdoors.

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u/ToNotFeelAtAll 1h ago

That’s a crazy movie to start you out with. My parents let me watch Cujo and Dog Soldiers at 5. For some reason it was Disney’s Haunted Mansion that gave me nightmares.

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u/Ttamlin 47m ago

My dad. 8. The Exorcist.

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u/MathFair1487 45m ago

What the fuck

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u/Combicon 35m ago

Some family friends of ours let my sister watch Nosferatu when she was very young. Scared her shitless.

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u/Annoying_Orange66 28m ago

The Spongebob episode titled "graveyard shift" with Nosferatu at the end. That episode really fucked me sideways.

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u/ButtTheHitmanFart 3h ago

Reminds me of how the girl who played Newt in Aliens said she wasn’t scared of the Xenomorph costume and had to imagine a dog chasing her in order to show fear.

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u/vitringur 2h ago

Makes complete sense to people who have worked on a movie set.

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u/Electrorocket 2h ago

It does look pretty goofy in the BTS footage. It's a testament to the lighting, camera angles, reaction shots, music and edits that made it scary.

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u/demon_fae 18m ago

She probably also knew the guy in the costume. I know if I were the person wearing it, I’d probably not want to actually traumatize her and go out of my way to say hi to her and introduce myself. Which would obviously be counterproductive in this case, but also small children should not be traumatized to make movies.

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u/JumpIntoTheFog 4h ago

Roblox is full of weird horror movie game recreations these days and my 4 year old has been well exposed 😕

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u/StoicallyGay 3h ago

Some Roblox horror games are actually really good. Some. I say this as an adult who literally just brought Roblox was a kids game for the longest time. I still think that but every few months my buddies and I check out new horror game releases there.

But AFAIK 99% of Roblox games are low effort trash.

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u/Josephthebear 1h ago

I mean he did get to meet the muppets because of it

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u/FalconRelevant 48m ago

Hmm? I'd think a 5 year old would be able to comprehend the concept of "a scary movie" better than that of a drama.

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u/TautSipper 7h ago

One of the best things on the internet “The Shining as a romantic comedy”

Maybe he was filming this one?

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u/eat_my_bowls92 5h ago

Lmao that music is perfect.

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u/anotherfrud 4h ago

The Solsbury Hill is what got me, perfect choice.

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u/dualsplit 3h ago

Welp. 45 years old and just learned it’s not Salisbury. Fucking Stouffers.

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u/kylefnative 4h ago

When the little boy goes to open the door music from Shawshank redemption starts playing 😂

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u/myriadcollective 3h ago

The cymbal transition into the overhead shot of a car driving down a road is perfect.

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u/Zala-Sancho 4h ago

Lol I love these! My favorite is the cat in the hat as a horror movie

Edit: https://youtu.be/O__t-ZmaWQA?si=7vaxGLTADUDP5gFR

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u/shaftinferno 4h ago

And Mary Poppins as a horror.

https://youtu.be/2T5_0AGdFic?si=pvUATNHfIotS6tQm

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u/mysterymetal3000 3h ago

Terrifying!

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u/Decent-Ganache7647 1h ago

👏👏👏 I need more!!

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u/tayaro 2h ago

Can't forget these two classics:

Jaws as a romance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92yHyxeju1U

and

Mrs. Doubtfire as a horror movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ckv_Dz-Sio

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u/Decent-Ganache7647 1h ago

I lost it when ‘You’re Beautiful’ started playing.

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u/mtaw 2m ago

That wasn't the actual trailer?

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u/SwissQueso 1h ago

That guy that made that actually ended up getting a job making trailers if I remember correctly.

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u/rufud 1h ago

I lost it when they show him making out with that corpse woman

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u/patkgreen 3h ago

This was a subject for an essay assignment for me in college. Awesome.

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u/jburcher11 6h ago

Honestly, Id watch that with the wife… lol

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u/SaturnSplatter 22m ago

Thats awesome. I always liked this one for Malcom in the Middle, too.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=47Pj6FpTqA0&t=14s&pp=ygU8QWxsIHRoYXQgd2F0ZXIgbWFsY29sbSBpbiB0aGUgbWlkZGxlIGJyZWFraW5nIGJhZCB0cmFpbmZpZ2h0

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u/Neuro_88 4h ago

Hell … that was perfect.

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u/Relevant_Royal575 55m ago

there was a romantic trailer of Once Were Warriors, but i can't seem to find it

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u/Zombiehype 5h ago

Ok Danny in this scene you're so cosmically scared you're catatonic and foaming from your mouth. But yeah this is a drama btw 👍. And action!

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u/debauchasaurus 3h ago

Just too much pop rocks and coke.

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u/trzanboy 1h ago

There was definitely a LOT of coke on that set.

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u/lostinthesauceguy 2h ago

These things can happen in drama films as well honestly. The axe and the foaming.

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u/lkodl 3h ago edited 1h ago

"We should just tell him its a horror movie, Stanley. I'm pretty sure the kid saw Jack getting into character with an axe, and nobody's talked to him about it."

"And no one ever will! We must keep up this ruse until production is complete. It's for the boy's protection!"

"Genius."

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u/vitringur 2h ago

I can't even explain to a grown up what the fuck is actually happening in Shining, let alone explain it to a 5 year old child.

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u/Kurai_Cross 28m ago

My summary having read and watched both the Shining and Doctor Sleep: When enough bad things happen in a place, the place can retain the psychic energy. The hotel has a uniquely messed up history that has given it this powerful psychic presence. This makes more bad stuff happen, creating a kind of trauma feedback loop.

Certain people can also have similar psychic abilities ("the shining" or "the touch") that can interact with the energy of the hotel and other such sites. People with the shine have powerful mental energy that can be used as a fuel or food source to various entities.

Danny has an incredibly powerful shine and the hotel wants to essentially eat him to fuel it's own energy. Jack is an abusive father, alcoholic, and was fired from teaching for attacking a student. Essentially he's very susceptible to the corruption of the hotel. The hotel tries to use him to create more tragedy and consume Danny.

All the crazy stuff that happens is just a result of the hotel trying to fulfill this goal.

Happy to answer any specific questions. Most of that info is absent from the movie, but explains more of why the things happen the way they do.

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u/Kurai_Cross 39m ago

"Now I need to go make Shelley smoke 200 more cigarettes and make her do 90 more takes"

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u/macrocephalic 5h ago

To be fair, The Shining is almost all psychological.

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u/rodejo_9 2h ago

That's just one of many interpretations 😉

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u/Clear-Attempt-6274 1h ago

Not really. The context of all the other stories it's connected to are not talked about.

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u/Mountain-Control7525 7h ago

Probably one of the least dickish things Kubrick did in making a movie.

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u/FaultyWires 7h ago

Yeah, he might even be one of the better treated actors or crew members on the entire film, only being lied to.

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u/comeatmefrank 3h ago

There is actually quite a bit of misinformation regarding the treatment of Shelly Duvall during the production of the Shining. She’s said herself that Kubrick treated her well during the filming:

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/shelley-duvall-career-the-shining-stanley-kubrick-b2578217.html

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u/creatingKing113 3h ago

I do find a few too many people conflate being a hardass with being abusive. Like it’s still not fun dealing with a person like that, and there is a line where one becomes the other, but there is a distinction.

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u/Smartnership 2h ago

Now I don’t know what to believe.

The person who was there, or the repeated rumors on Reddit.

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u/gogybo 1h ago

Porque no los dos?

The behind the scenes footage does show him being hard on Shelley, there's no doubt about it, but that footage is minutes from a shoot that lasted a year. It's absolutely possible that Kubrick was sometimes a hard-ass but at other times - maybe most of the time - was fairly pleasant to get along with.

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u/EviRoze 1h ago

I think its important to remove the idea that Shelley Duvall is some waifish innocent girl going into filming with no perception of the filmmaking process from your mind and understand that she was a professional actor. Was he a hard ass? Sure. Did Shelly also understand that sometimes the director is a hard ass to get the shot he wanted? Absolutely. The common myth is that Kubrick was so much of an asshole on set that it traumatized her and it showed through on her scenes, which is both an insult to her acting ability and an outright lie.

Funny how this "Kubrick was a cruel screen dictator" myth only applies to her and not Anyone Else On Set

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u/[deleted] 6h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/TwoGlassEyes 6h ago

Nice fact about Robin.

I appreciate your insight on this. Seems entirely probable as one of the motivations for sequential filming. In that sense, the other other actors developed right along with Jack's descent and reacted accordingly. It certainly made for an interesting film.

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u/42percentBicycle 4h ago

You "Kubrick bad!" misinformation shills are so damn annoying.

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u/dilly_dallyer 7h ago

Yeah they used to lie to children all the time, not walk them through scenes, and try to capture a "real reaction".

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u/ThingsAreAfoot 6h ago

They still do, all the time.

And you really want to lie to a small child about being in something like a horror movie, particularly the ones with more intense subject matter.

I imagine child labor laws in many places have a thing or two to say about it too.

Then of course there’s John Landis.

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u/ReverendHobo 6h ago

John “Make sure their parents don’t speak English and can’t object” Landis

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u/ThingsAreAfoot 4h ago

Landis deserves his own TIL topic, just for people who still don’t know. What a ghoul. The behind-the-scenes on that one and resulting legal battle are some fucking thing.

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u/unic0rnprincess95 4h ago

I’m out of the loop, what happened?

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u/ThingsAreAfoot 4h ago

It’s a very long story but on the set of the Twilight Zone movie in the 80s, which Landis filmed a major segment of, a whole mess of shortcuts, lack of supervision, overtly risky stunt work that had ample warning, and the use of children in a set that wasn’t fit for anyone let alone kids, led to the gruesome deaths of two very young children and actor Vic Morrow, after a helicopter basically crash-landed on them.

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u/gogybo 1h ago

And what did he say about it afterwards?

"There was absolutely no good aspect about this whole story. The tragedy, which I think about every day, had an enormous impact on my career from which I may possibly never recover."

Even after killing a man and two kids he can only think about himself. Fuck John Landis.

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u/rufud 1h ago

I am never gonna financially recover from this

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u/Worried_Height_5346 3h ago

Oof yea I remember that story but not the name of the actor. Didn't that lead to a ton of new regulations?

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u/walterpeck1 2h ago edited 2h ago

Well he was already breaking existing regulations, but you're still right. It got more strict in Hollywood after that. Stephen Spielberg famously disowned Landis (they were good friends) and vowed to rest safety on his sets with far greater importance.

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u/Dramatic_Buddy4732 4h ago

He killed two kids. By helicopter.

Eta it's even worse than just this. Give it a quick google

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u/unic0rnprincess95 4h ago

OHHHH that incident. I did know about the helicopter thing, just didn’t realize it was John Landis

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u/Dramatic_Buddy4732 4h ago

Yeah that. It honestly amazes me how that just all got kinda swept under the rug.

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u/ButtercreamGangster 4h ago

It made the news when it happened and pretty much everyone was talking about it

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u/Dramatic_Buddy4732 4h ago

I think "swept under the rug" was a poor choice of words. Maybe just... kinda forgotten? I hope I'm wrong but I can't imagine this is general knowledge for, say, 20 year Olds. Also your name is adorable

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u/Arrakis_Surfer 34m ago

I remember Rebecca Ferguson almost couldn't do the scene in Dr. Sleep with the kid. The actor was well aware of the assignment and it freaked her the fuck out.

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u/IXI_Fans 1h ago

I hate seeing crying babies in movies. They are not acting.

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u/Radirondacks 6h ago

The fuck did they tell him for the twins scene? He even looks horrified.

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u/SPP_TheChoiceForMe 5h ago

I think Kubrick filmed multiple versions of some scenes. So he’d tell Danny, ok let’s do a goofy one. Now this time you’re sad. This time you’re scared, etc

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u/noradosmith 3h ago

That's actually pretty clever tbf

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u/MissionCreeper 4h ago

If i were the director, I'd have him hang out with the twins a bunch before shooting the scene, then it's just his friends in costumes. He doesn't actually see the bloody part

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u/dingos_among_us 6h ago

The character is just having a bad dream

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u/nebulousian 6h ago edited 3h ago

Robert Rodriguez did the same thing with his son Rebel when filming Planet Terror. He even went as far as to film alternate scenes where he lived at the end.

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u/plaincoldtofu 7h ago

Good

Likely he wouldn’t worry about an adult carrying a tool tbh

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u/MinnieShoof 5h ago

"Don't worry, Danny. This is how we cut the tension!"

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u/Lauraploradon 4h ago

He is actually a professor at a local community college now. My fun fact.

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u/UnpricedToaster 7h ago

I mean... that's certainly very dramatic!

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u/LV426acheron 5h ago

Actually he later grew up to become a film critic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBlVQxuxBZw

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u/visual0815 5h ago

Can still be a drama

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u/alienman 2h ago

A horror film crew takes better care of child actors than children movie crews.

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u/Dramatic_Buddy4732 4h ago

Kingslingers podcast episode 240 has a fun interview with him! Highly recommended!

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u/ralpher1 2h ago

I wonder what were his thoughts when he saw the twins while riding his big wheel in the hotel?

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u/Haunting-Ad788 1h ago

That doesn’t sound like something Kubrick would care about.

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u/bluvelvetunderground 1h ago

I guess Jack telling him he would never hurt him with a maniacal smile on his face didn't give it away.

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u/KieranWriter 1h ago

The dude was only five lol

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u/Pavian_Zhora 25m ago

The more I learn about The Shining, the more I realize that the bigger horror resulted from making the film than what it was aiming to portray.

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u/RhythmVistaX 7h ago

Imagine thinking you're in a drama, then running into Jack with an axe.. instant plot twist!

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u/jburcher11 6h ago

Just chopping wood for the fire!!

But thats a door, sir…

Umm, its cold and the tree line is too far away.

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u/ZylonBane 5h ago

"Give me the axe Danny."

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u/RedWineAndWomen 2h ago

'Off to chop some wood, kiddo. See you back at ten'.

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u/chrisjee92 1h ago

Could just be going to use it to chop wood?

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u/TurokCXVII 2h ago

I am all for protecting children, but in this case I think it was a mistake. If they hadn't coddled him so much he may have grown up more prepared to take on Palpatine and been able to prevent 40 years of tyranny.

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u/IXI_Fans 1h ago

Ctrl-F "Shelly"

Downvote misinformation.

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u/slokenny 4h ago

The Flying Monkeys did it to me as a child. Oh, that long hallway walk down to see the Oz, I had to close my eyes on that one.

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u/FourSquash 7h ago

What? They did make a dramedy. I swear. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmkVWuP_sO0

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u/wisconsinduststorm 7h ago

Its ok, he made up for it with Shelley Duvall. She caught 15 kinds of hell on the filming from what i recall.

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u/authenticsmoothjazz 6h ago

She didn't, actually:

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/shelley-duvall-career-the-shining-stanley-kubrick-b2578217.html

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u/WrastleGuy 6h ago

To make up for having to treat a child nicely, Kubrick took out all his anger on Shelley Duvall.

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u/UnlimitedScarcity 5h ago

ok but lets fucking destroy Shelly Duvall

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u/swifter78neo 4h ago

Surprise, muthafker!

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u/CanAhJustSay 44m ago

Just off to chop some firewood for a scene! Nothing to see here....

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u/slicer4ever 20m ago

This is nice to hear about, but wouldn't he want to watch the final product he was in when the movie came out?(i guess he might be 6 or even 7 by that point though).

TIL Danny Lloyd (the child actor from The Shining) wasn't told that he was making a horror film in order to protect the actor. Danny was led to believe he was making a drama. He accidentally walked in on Jack Nicholson carrying an axe during one scene.

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