THE SHINING Miniseries Deleted a Grotesque Sequence Where Stephen King Melts “Like Tallow”
Josh Millican
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April 26th may have been Alien Day, but April 27th was the 22nd Anniversary of Mick Garris’s The Shining miniseries. The director worked closely with Stephen King, who has infamously panned Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Proof that King appreciated Garris’s effort comes in the form of a cameo; the bestselling author of The Shining appears as a bandleader in the ballroom scene.
Like the 1990 miniseries adaptation of IT, 1997’s The Shining also had the FCC to contend with, meaning certain elements (sex, language, gore) had to be culled in order to meet television standards of the era. Which probably explains, at least in part, why a sequence of King’s face melting was cut from the final product.
Delirium Magazine shared an image from this excised scene on Twitter; the surrounding text indicates this comes from a past issue, although the date and number aren’t mentioned. Still, it offers some invaluable insight–and a grotesque glimpse into what might have been.
Some of the surrounding text reads:
Garris reluctantly cut the movie’s most elaborate makeup sequence, in which the faces of Gage Creed and his orchestra “run like tallow,” as King’s description put it. “It kind of slowed down the scene,” the director admits, “and put us into monster movie territory.”
If you’ve never seen it, check out the synopsis and trailer for Mick Garris’s The Shining below. Maybe the face melting scene will make it onto a Blu-ray reissue. Fingers crossed!
Synopsis:
A new caretaker moves with his family into the mysterious Overlook Hotel for the winter.
Garris’s The Shining stars Rebecca De Mornay, Steven Weber, and Wil Horneff.
What do you think about the image of Stephen King’s face melting in Mick Garris’s The Shining? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!
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