COLD PLACE: A grand hotel—shut down for the winter—in the Colorado Rockies
Any romantic notions one might’ve had about care-taking a resort hotel in winter were effectively destroyed by the Stephen King novel and the subsequent Stanley Kubrick film (infamously panned by King himself). The legendary director slowly creates a mood of unease: once the Torrance family has settled in, unbothered by the fact a previous jobholder went on a murderous rampage before killing himself, the halls of the Overlook Hotel become thick with dread and menace. (A popular film at this year’s Sundance festival was Room 237, a “documentary” that explores several wild theories surrounding the Kubrick film.) Even if the snowy locale doesn’t figure until late in the movie, the movie has a creepy chilliness that stays with you long after it ends.
WHERE THESE SCENES WERE SHOT: The exteriors were shot by a small second-unit team (as Kubrick was famously unwilling to shoot outside of the UK) near Mount Hood in Oregon. The interiors — and the not-in-the-book maze scene — were filmed on huge sound stages at the EMI Elmstreee Studios in Hertforshire, just north of London.
OTHER “COLD” MOVIES BASED ON BOOKS BY STEPHEN KING: Misery (another Colorado winter) and Dreamcatcher (a blizzard in the Maine woods).
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