The Shining

Continuity mistake: In the initial overhead shot of the hotel the hedge maze is not there though later on it is shown quite close to the hotel. (00:02:45 - 01:42:30)

The Shining mistake picture

Continuity mistake: At the beginning when Danny is talking to his Mom and eating a sandwich, the sandwich gets about 5 bites smaller in a split second. (00:04:45)

The Shining mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As Danny is writing 'redrum' on the bathroom door, the lampshade on the nightstand light is askew. A moment later, when Jack is knocking down the door with the axe, the lampshade has somehow straightened itself out. (01:32:40)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This along with other subtle movements and the microscopic misplacement of everything inside the Overlook is meant to snap back to its former or appear "off" for no reason other than it gives the viewer an uncomfortable and uneasy feeling.

The Shining mistake picture

Continuity mistake: While breaking down the bathroom door with the axe, Jack repeatedly strikes and damages the right hand panel, but as he turns away from the door (when he hears the snow-cat) both left and right panels have been damaged.

Continuity mistake: When Jack finally dies and you see him lie down on the hedges, his back is flat on the hedge, but when you see him face front, his back is about five feet away from the hedge.

Continuity mistake: When Jack breaks the door to the bathroom and reaches in to unlock, Wendy cuts him. Later there is no blood on the knife.

Continuity mistake: Wendy comforts Jack after he has had his nightmare. His hairstyle keeps differing depending on the angle focusing on him.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the beginning when Wendy is talking to the doctor, Wendy lights a cigarette, seconds later the paper has burned almost to the filter.

Continuity mistake: When Wendy is looking through all the typed sheets where Jack has typed 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy', you can see that they are getting disorganised, and when Jack sneaks up on her, she gets a fright and puts them down in an untidy pile. However, in the next shot, they are in a relatively neat pile again in the tray.

Continuity mistake: When Jack is typing and is interrupted by Wendy, he takes out the sheet and tears it and with no replacement. In the next shot there is a new one on the typewriter.

ozwal13

The Shining mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Danny is playing alone in the corridor, with his toy cars and trucks, in the overhead shot, the little vehicles are set up on the orange and brown pattern, as the ball roles to him down the center brown path in the carpet's sextagon pattern. However, in Danny's close-up, when the ball is in front of him, all the little toy vehicles are now set up (still the same way) on the opposite side of the carpet's distinct pattern, as he also faces the opposite way. This mistake has absolutely nothing to do with the ghosts of The Overlook moving the ball.

Continuity mistake: When Hallorann is showing Wendy & Danny around after they first arrive at the hotel, they walk through the kitchen towards the camera & into the freezer door to the left of the screen. You can see the kitchen still visible in the background. When they leave the freezer (after Hallorann calls Danny "Doc"), the background is completely different & the kitchen is not visible. This is because they have actually filmed a different door on the opposite side of the corridor. They then walk towards camera again & back into the kitchen they have just walked through.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This sort of discontinuity is deliberate. The layout of the Overlook is intended to make no sense.

Continuity mistake: When Wendy gets jack in to the food storage, two boxes beside the door fall to the floor. When Jack wakes up those boxes are back on the pile again.

ozwal13

Continuity mistake: If you compare the map of the maze posted outside on the actual maze (visible when Wendy and Danny first run inside it), to the model of the maze Jack looks at in the hotel which pans down to Wendy and Danny walking through it, the two maps look nothing alike.

Continuity mistake: When Jack is chopping at the bathroom door with the axe, he completely breaks through the right side panel. After the shot of Halloran arriving in the snow cat, we see Jack at the door again and there are a couple of large wood slivers lodged in the right panel.

Floyd1977

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Hallorann is talking to Danny over ice cream, when the shot pan to Danny, the amount of ice cream stains he has on the side of his mouth changes.

treyman13

The Shining mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jack is telling Danny he would never hurt him or his mother, towards the end when the camera is facing Danny, you can't see Jack's right hand and can assume that he's leaning it on the bed; but when the camera moves back to Jack's face it is now around Danny's shoulder.

The Shining mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Jack kills Halloran, there is blood on the blade of the axe, including the next couple of scenes chasing after Danny. However, when they get into the maze, the axe blade is bright and shiny with no traces of blood.

Continuity mistake: When Wendy is trying to escape through the small window, she leaves the room with the lights on, but in a view from outside the lights are off, then Jack passes by and the lights are on back again.

ozwal13

Continuity mistake: When the Danny is meeting with the chef in the kitchen, and Danny is eating ice cream. The amount of ice cream in the bowl changes from a little to a lot.

Movieman123

The Shining mistake picture

Continuity mistake: While breaking down the bathroom door with the axe, Jack repeatedly strikes and damages the right hand panel, but as he turns away from the door (when he hears the snow-cat) both left and right panels have been damaged.

More mistakes in The Shining

Jack Torrance: Wendy, let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're distracting me. And it will then take me time to get back to where I was. You understand?
Wendy Torrance: Yeah.
Jack Torrance: Now, we're going to make a new rule. When you come in here and you hear me typing [types], or whether you DON'T hear me typing, or whatever the FUCK you hear me doing, when I'm in here, it means that I am working. THAT means don't come in. Now, do you think you can handle that?
Wendy Torrance: Yeah.
Jack Torrance: Good. Now why don't you start right now and get the fuck out of here?

More quotes from The Shining

Trivia: Stanley Kubrick was very protective of Danny Lloyd, because he was so young. Through some careful and clever directing, Lloyd was unaware he was making a horror film until after the film's release.

More trivia for The Shining

Question: Whenever Jack is talking to Delbert Grady, Grady mentions his wife and two daughters; one of whom tried to burn the overlook down. My question is, are they the same twin girls Danny has visions of? Whenever Danny sees them dead in the hallway, the vision matches the story Ullman told Jack about Charles Grady. Why does Delbert Grady deny killing his wife and daughters when he was the caretaker, but then contradicts himself and go on to say he "corrected" them? Was he only denying being the caretaker since Jack has always been the caretaker? What is the connection between Delbert's story and what happened with Charles Grady?

Answer: Delbert Grady has always been at the hotel, just as Jack Torrance has...however, "Charles Grady" was one incarnation of the hotel's "caretaker", which Jack Torrance currently is. Delbert, evidenced by his appearance, occupation, and archaic racial views, has been with the hotel since its turn-of-the-century inception, just as Jack, in the photo at the end, has been. We don't know what "spirit-Jack's" function in the Overlook is...we only know that the present Jack (whom Delbert is talking to) embodies the "caretaker" who has always been there, just as Charles Grady did in his time. Delbert refers to his wife and two daughters, whom he did not murder...his "caretaker" version, Charles Grady, did that.

More questions & answers from The Shining

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.