ABC | Release Date: April 27, 1997
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
90
The Hollywood ReporterMiles BellerMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: An engagingly brooding and meditative revisitation via a three-night miniseries that stars Rebecca De Mornay, Steven Weber and Courtland Mead. While Stanley Kubrick's 1980 movie was barely able to contain the manic machinations of Jack Nicholson as the bedeviled writer and Shelley Duvall as his victimized wife, ABC's renewed "Shining" delivers its own sustaining vision of an anti-holiday in hell. In fact, those who might question the wisdom of recasting and remaking "The Shining" into a miniseries will find this video version a force to be reckoned with. For this time out, The Shining radiates profound power as a deeply evocative and nuanced piece, rendered as a grandly textured triptych working on multiple levels. [23 Apr 1997]
75
San Diego Union-TribuneJohn FreemanMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: "The Shining" (King wrote the teleplay) can be ghoulishly, gruesomely delightful. But the final hour disintegrates into a mess of violence that'll repulse most viewers. A warning: A 7-year-old may be a central character in "The Shining," but this is not -- repeat NOT -- for young children.
75
USA TodayMatt RoushMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: Though uneven and padded (like the book), it delivers the nasty goods. For grown-up kids only. [25 Apr 1997]
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerJohn LevesqueMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: Oh, there are some jump-up-and-grab-the-cat moments, especially in Monday's installment. But, generally speaking, the people who appear on Jerry Springer are scarier than this version of The Shining. [25 Apr 1997]
50
NewsdaySteve ParksMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: Though tension builds to a taut shudder in Monday's Part 2, it all, unfortunately, falls apart in the finale on Thursday. Weber takes so much care in restraining his character from going over the edge too soon, that when he finally reaches that precipice on the rim of madness, he never dives in. It takes courage to go as far over the top as Nicholson did in Kubrick's "The Shining." But that's what's needed to make the crazed ending more than a cartoon. Too bad. Until then, "Stephen King's The Shining" almost got it right. [27 Apr 1997]
50
Boston GlobeMichael BlowenMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: A faithful, literal, author-authorized version of the novel. The picture is big. The ideas are small...In spite of the length and hype of the miniseries, which stars Steven Weber of "Wings" and Rebecca De Mornay as Jack and Wendy Torrance, with Courtland Mead as their son, Danny, it's a small picture. Not small in its commercial prospects, but small in its artistic ambitions. [27 Apr 1997, p.D1]
50
Chicago Sun-TimesLon GrahnkeMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: ABC will force King fans to wait until Thursday to witness the loud, bloody resolution of The Shining and see the author in a cameo role as a dapper bandleader. King sets a slow tempo. Too much stalling dulls the impact. [25 Apr 1997, p.51]
50
Detroit Free PressMike DuffyMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: Stephen King's The Shining is a crackerjack creep show with a fatal flaw. It's too darn long. [25 Apr 1997, p.1C]
42
Dallas Morning NewsManuel MendozaMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: It is neither visually nor narratively compelling. Since the story didn't make sense in the first place, filming a literal (not literate) version of The Shining only makes its shortcomings stand out. [27 Apr 1997, p.1C]
40
Orlando SentinelHal BoedekerMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: But the running time unwisely inflates this intimate story of a three-member family coming apart at the isolated hotel in the Colorado Rockies. The Stand was an epic. The Shining is not... The extreme length, however, leads to tiresome repetition. Horror and suspense are better served in small helpings. Even Alfred Hitchcock would have been daunted by these conditions. [27 Apr 1997]