50 free The Shining trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free The Shining trivia questions with answers. The Shining is the horror film people study frame by frame, and this quiz rewards that. Forty questions cover Kubrick's 1980 film (Room 237, the Grady girls, the Steadicam corridors, the 127-take staircase, the July 4, 1921 photograph), Stephen King's 1977 novel and how it differs (roque mallets, exploding boilers, topiary animals), the real Stanley Hotel that inspired it all, and the 2019 sequel Doctor Sleep. Easy questions are for anyone who has heard "Here's Johnny." Harder ones ask why 217 became 237, whose face Nicholson's was pasted over in the photo, which scene Kubrick cut a week after release, and what King's abandoned first attempt at the story was called. Good for a horror night, a film-club round or settling the maze-versus-boiler argument. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the film, the novel, the Stanley Hotel and Doctor Sleep, and each question carries its source.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed the 1980 film The Shining?
Stanley Kubrick
He co-wrote it with novelist Diane Johnson after admiring her 1974 novel The Shadow Knows.
Q 02Who plays the caretaker Torrance in the film?
Jack Nicholson
He suggested Jessica Lange for Wendy, but Shelley Duvall already knew the part was hers.
Q 03In which state's Rocky Mountains does the fictional Overlook Hotel stand?
Colorado
It sits in the Colorado Rockies in the story; the real Stanley Hotel inspired it, the Timberline supplied exteriors and the Ahwahnee inspired the interiors.
Q 04What does Dick Hallorann call the telepathic gift he shares with Danny?
Shining
His grandmother's word for it gave the book its title, which King took from the John Lennon line "We all shine on."
Q 05Which room does Hallorann warn Danny to avoid?
237
It was 217 in the novel; the Timberline Lodge asked Kubrick to change it so guests would not fear a real room.
Q 06Why was the number changed from the novel's 217?
The Timberline Lodge asked Kubrick not to use a real one
The lodge has no room 237, so a nonexistent number was substituted; the theory about the moon's distance is a fan invention.
Q 07What phrase fills the pages of the manuscript when Wendy finally reads it?
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
Kubrick reshot the scene with the proverb typed in Italian, French, Spanish and German for dubbed versions.
Q 08Where did 'Here's Johnny!' rank on AFI's list of top movie quotes?
68th
Nicholson borrowed it from Ed McMahon's nightly introduction of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.
Q 09The hotel's exteriors were shot at which real building?
Timberline, on Mount Hood, Oregon
The real lodge has no hedge maze, which is why the maze never appears in those establishing shots.
Q 10Where was almost all of the film actually shot?
Elstree Studios in England
Principal photography ran from May 1978 to April 1979, and a fire badly damaged the main lounge set in February 1979.
Q 11Which then-new camera rig gave the film its gliding corridor shots, with its inventor working on set?
The Steadicam
Garrett Brown's rig followed Danny's Big Wheel through the halls, the sound switching from clatter on wood to silence on carpet.
Q 12What does Danny ride through the hotel corridors?
A Big Wheel tricycle
The tracking sequence following him is one of the most discussed shots in the film.
Q 13The Grady girls were played by identical siblings, but what does the script say about the characters?
They are sisters, not twins
Q 21What sport's mallet does Jack use as his weapon in the novel, rather than an axe?
Roque
Roque is an American variant of croquet; the film swapped it for the far more cinematic axe.
Q 22How is the hotel destroyed at the end of the novel?
Its neglected boiler explodes
In the book the hotel's topiary animals also come to life, an element the film replaced with the hedge maze.
Q 23The Shining was Stephen King's third published novel. What milestone did it mark for him?
His debut hardcover bestseller
Lisa and Louise Burns' staging echoes Diane Arbus's 1967 photograph Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey.
Q 14How does Jack die in the film?
He freezes to death in the hedge maze
In the novel the Overlook's boiler blows up and destroys the hotel with Jack inside; Kubrick swapped that for the maze.
Q 15The final photograph shows Jack at a hotel party dated to which day?
July 4, 1921
The real photo was a Valentine's Day dance in 1921 at a London hotel, with Nicholson's face airbrushed over a dance instructor's.
Q 16Whose face was Nicholson's airbrushed over in the 1921 photograph?
A future ballroom dance instructor
John Golman later taught dance under the name Santos Casani; the provenance was pinned down only in 2025.
Q 17Which scene did Guinness originally credit with the most retakes in film history, at 127?
Wendy backing up the stairs swinging a baseball bat
Guinness later moved the record to 148 takes for the scene of Danny and Hallorann discussing the shine.
Q 18What did Stephen King mainly dislike about Kubrick's adaptation?
It downplayed the supernatural
King produced a more faithful three-part miniseries in 1997 in response.
Q 19The Shining was Kubrick's only film nominated for which awards?
The Razzies
Nominations for Worst Director and Worst Actress came in the Razzies' first year; the Duvall nod was later rescinded.
Q 20What scene did Kubrick cut a week into the film's release?
A hospital epilogue
Projectionists physically cut it from prints on Warner's orders, taking the running time from 146 to 144 minutes.
Carrie and 'Salem's Lot preceded it; its success established him as horror's leading author.
Q 24Where did King and his wife check in on October 30, 1974, planting the seed for the novel?
The Stanley in Estes Park, Colorado
King and his wife checked in on October 30, 1974, and he dreamed the book in room 217.
Q 25The Stanley Hotel opened on July 4 of which year?
1909
It was built as a resort for wealthy Easterners and a retreat for tuberculosis patients; the same July 4 date is echoed in the film's final photograph.
Q 26Which comedy used the Stanley Hotel as a filming location in 1994?
Dumb and Dumber
It stood in for the fictional Danbury hotel in Aspen; the Stanley is also billed as one of America's most haunted hotels.
Q 27What was the working title of the abandoned 1972 King novel that evolved into The Shining?
Darkshine
The final title came from John Lennon's "Instant Karma!" and its line "We all shine on."
Q 28What is Danny's imaginary friend called?
Tony
The novel makes clear he is a projection of Danny's own psyche, amplified by the shine.
Q 29Who declined the role of Dick Hallorann in The Shining because of his Dr. Strangelove experience with Kubrick?
Slim Pickens
Pickens said he would only do it if his scenes took fewer than 100 takes; Crothers got the part on Pickens's agent's suggestion.
Q 30How did Kubrick protect young Danny Lloyd during filming?
He let the boy believe he was making a drama, not a horror film
Kubrick auditioned boys from cities whose accents fell between Nicholson's New Jersey and Duvall's Texas.