Why The Shining Remake Cut Stephen King's Melting Ghost Cameo Scene
Although Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is the best-known adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name, there was a miniseries adaptation in 1997, and it even had a cameo by King himself, but it was cut from the series – here’s why. In 1977, Stephen King’s third novel, The Shining, was published, and it’s the book that helped establish him as a preeminent author in the horror genre, while also being one of his most personal works, as some details (such as the main character’s struggle with alcoholism) were based on his personal experiences.
The Shining follows Jack Torrance, a struggling writer and recovering alcoholic who takes a position as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. Jack takes his wife, Wendy, and their son, Danny, with him, in hopes that they can rebuild their relationship and reconnect while being all by themselves at the hotel, while also finding the motivation he needed to work on a play. However, a snowstorm soon leaves them cut off from the outside world, which along with Danny’s psychic abilities, referred to as “the shining”, awaken the supernatural forces inhabiting the hotel, which begin to mess with Jack’s sanity. The Shining’s first adaptation to other media happened in 1980 with the movie of the same name directed by Stanley Kubrick, who made a lot of changes to the story and earned the disappointment and criticism of King.
Even with Stephen King being quite open about his dislike for Kubrick’s movie, The Shining is now considered as one of the greatest horror movies ever made, but the story was remade in 1997 for a miniseries, and this time King was involved in the making of it. Also titled The Shining, it was a three-episode miniseries directed by Mick Garris and written by King, resulting in a more loyal adaptation than Kubrick’s movie. King’s involvement wasn’t restricted to behind-the-scenes work and he also had a cameo appearance, which was ultimately cut, but had it been kept, viewers wouldn’t have recognized him easily as he was wearing a lot of (gruesome) makeup. In a scene featuring the ghosts from the Overlook’s past, a band was shown playing, and the leader of the band was King (and the character’s name was Gage Creed, just like that of the child in his 1983 novel Pet Sematary).
The scene ended with all the ghosts, including King’s character, melting, with some green goo coming out of their faces (which, in a way, is reminiscent of the rotten effect used on the woman from room 237 in Kubrick’s movie). The scene is impressive when it comes to makeup and special effects, and the camera work makes it even more unsettling, but it was cut and left as a deleted scene. In an interview with Fangoria (via Delirium), Garris explained that King’s cameo had to be cut as “it kind of slowed down the scene” and it put them “into monster movie territory” given the gruesome makeup and how their faces began to melt, and that the miniseries was “something that should play much closer to the real world”. The Shining kept the topiary animals that can move, which isn’t exactly something from “the real world”, but the melting faces crossed a line that Garris wasn’t exactly on board with.
In the end, even without Stephen King’s Gage Creed melting, The Shining miniseries was well-received thanks to it being more loyal to the book than Stanley Kubrick’s movie, though it still has its weak points. While Mick Garris’ reasons to cut King’s cameo from the series are understandable, viewers will be the ones who will decide if that scene would have messed with the pace of the series or would have been an interesting and shocking addition.
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