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| “ | The world was the Overlook Hotel, where the party never ended. Where the dead were alive forever. | „ |
| ~ The official description of the Overlook Hotel by Stephen King. |
| “ | "Any big hotels have got scandals," he said. "Just like every big hotel has got a ghost. Why? Hell, people come and go. Sometimes one of 'em will pop off in his room, heart attack or stroke or something like that. Hotels are superstitious places. No thirteenth floor or room thirteen, no mirrors on the back of the door you come in through, stuff like that." | „ |
| ~ Stephen King's inspiration to create the Overlook Hotel in the novel The Shining. |
| “ | The Overlook was having one hell of a good time. There was a little boy to terrorize, a man and his woman to set one against the other, and if it played its cards right they could end up flitting through the Overlook's halls like insubstantial shades in a Shirley Jackson novel, whatever walked in Hill House walked alone, but you wouldn’t be alone in the Overlook, oh no, there would be plenty of company here. | „ |
| ~ The Overlook Hotel's malevolent personality. |
The Overlook Hotel is the main antagonist of Stephen King's 1977 horror novel The Shining and its 1980 film adaptation of the same name, as well as the overarching antagonist of the 2013 sequel novel Doctor Sleep and its 2019 film adaptation of the same name.
It is a haunted hotel that wants the Shining power of Danny Torrance, the five years old son of Wendy and Jack Torrance, the latter of whom has accepted an offer to take care of the hotel during the winter season. However, the Overlook Hotel turns out to be consumed by the evil energy from all the people around it during its existence and immediately targets Danny so it can feed on his Shining, slowly manipulating Danny's isolated father into trying to kill his family.
In the movies, its exterior was portrayed by the Timberline Lodge. While possessing Danny Torrance, it was portrayed by Ewan McGregor, who also played Mark Renton in the Trainspotting duology, Tom Lincoln in The Island, Terry Blaine in Cassandra's Dream, Patrick McKenna in Angels and Demons, Ray Stussy in Fargo and Black Mask in Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). In the miniseries, its exterior and interior were portrayed by The Stanley Hotel.
History[]
The Shining[]
Jack Torrance is hired to take care of the Overlook for winter with his family. Torrance's psychic son Danny feels there is something wrong with Overlook. On their first day, Danny sees a brain splattered on a wall. When they are staying, the Overlook begins showing its dark side to Danny. Overlook tries to kill Danny itself but Danny is too powerful for that. The Overlook begins using Danny's troubled father to absorb Danny. It uses ghosts and delusions to control Jack. Jack finally falls prey to the Overlook and tries to kill his own family.
Jack injures Wendy Torrance and Dick: a man came there to save Danny. Danny realizes he is the only one that can stop Overlook. He faces his father and calls him out. Jack fights with the Overlook and tells Danny he loves him. Later, the Overlook gains control, but it's too late for the Overlook because the boiler isn't checked. The boiler explodes and the Overlook dies.
Doctor Sleep[]
Some years later when Danny is still a young boy, a ghost that escaped from Overlook comes to visit him. Dick gives Danny a box and tells him to create one in his own mind. Danny traps the ghosts in his mind.
Years later, Danny with the help of his brave niece Abra Stone uses the hungry ghosts of the now-abandoned Overlook Hotel to defeat the nomadic cult of psychic vampires known as the True Knot including their powerful leader Rose the Hat herself.
Ghost sightings[]
.jpg "Delbert Grady (2019).jpg (41 KB)")
.jpg "Grady Sisters (2019).jpg (171 KB)")
.jpg "Lorraine Massey (2019).jpg (66 KB)")
.jpg "Roger the Dogman (1997).jpg (250 KB)")
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- While the Overlook Hotel is still just a building, it is written as a character with wants and purposes. Because it has a purpose, it differentiates itself from other haunted locations.
- Stephen King's inspiration to create the Overlook Hotel in the novel The Shining was The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, which King visited with his wife and during his stay was attended by a bartender named Grady in the bar, who in turn inspired the character of Delbert Grady.
- Fittingly, due to The Stanley Hotel inspiring the Overlook Hotel, Stephen King originally pushed for the film adaptation of The Shining to be filmed there, but Stanley Kubrick opted to shoot the Timberline Lodge for the Overlook's exterior and filmed a huge film set for the Overlook's interiors due to The Stanley Hotel lacking sufficient electricity and snow, much to King's disappointment. Nevertheless, The Stanley Hotel would later be used to portray the Overlook Hotel when King produced a television miniseries adaptation of The Shining in the late 1990s.
- In the film adaptation of The Shining, director Stanley Kubrick purposely left ambiguous whether the Overlook Hotel was really a sentient evil being or if Jack Torrance hallucinated the Overlook's nature upon losing his sanity due to his isolation in order to evoke Kubrick's feelings that the story of should be about the evil side of the human personality, much to Stephen King's disappointment, as this decision led to Jack's depiction as an abusive and unsympathetic family man who dies unredeemed while trying to kill Wendy and Danny instead of fighting against the Overlook's influence and redeeming himself by sacrificing his life to destroy the Overlook at the end.
- In reaction to this, when the film adaptation of Doctor Sleep was developed, director Mike Flanagan opted to bring the Overlook Hotel back and confirm onscreen that the Overlook was indeed supernatural and manipulated Jack into following its orders so it could feed on Danny's Shining. The film also has Danny destroy the Overlook at the end to evoke the first novel's original ending, in which it was Jack who destroyed the hotel. It's believed that this was one of the reasons for which Stephen King ultimately approved the Doctor Sleep film and stated that everything he didn't like from The Shining was "redeemed" there.
- The Overlook Hotel suffers major changes in The Shining film duology produced by Warner Bros.: whereas the Overlook is burned down in the original novel and by the time of the sequel it has been replaced by the Roof O' the World Inn since then, which is where a grown-up Danny and his niece Abra Stone defeat The True Knot members, the Overlook actually survives the first film and is still standing when Wendy and Danny escape from it, leaving Jack to die frozen and alone in the maze, and is revisited by Danny and Abra Stone thirty-nine years later in the second film, where they go to stop Rose the Hat and ultimately burn it down after Rose's death.
- The Overlook Hotel inspired the wallpaper design of Sid Phillips' house in the animated feature film Toy Story.
- While developing Doctor Sleep, Stephen King originally turned down Mike Flanagan's proposal to bring the Overlook Hotel back, likely because of his dissatisfaction with Stanley Kubrick's film. However, after Flanagan pitched King a pivotal scene taking place at the Overlook towards the end of the film, King relented and concluded that it would make sense to bring back the Overlook.
- The Overlook Hotel is easily one of the few villains in this wiki that is portrayed by an innanimate object (in this case, a building) rather than a human performer.
External Links[]
- Overlook Hotel (film version only) on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Overlook Hotel on the Evil Wiki
- Overlook Hotel on the Stephen King Wiki
