The identical twins in The Shining are one of the film’s most memorable images; it’s worth investigating what they represent and why they are changed from Stephen King’s original book. Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film The Shining is widely considered one of the best horror movies ever made – and for good reason. The atmospheric film follows the Torrance family who, upon moving to the abandoned Overlook Hotel, find a malevolent presence that drives the father to murder and haunts the son with sinister images.
The film is deeply enigmatic, filled with mysteries and vague allusions about which fans still theorize to this day. One of the most prominent topics of speculation is the meaning of the Grady twins. The identical twin sisters, spirits of two children murdered by the previous caretaker Delbert Grady, are the subject of one of the movie’s most haunting scenes. The appearance poses numerous questions, including whether the twins are good or evil, what they represent for young Danny Torrance, and why they constitute one of the many changes from the Shining book to the movie.
The Twins’ Role In The Shining Movie Explained
The Shining Twins Embody The Forever-Building Dread
In discussions of the particular brand of fear that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining manifests, a word that recurs again and again is “dread.” Better than perhaps any other film ever made, The Shining uses its imagery and atmosphere to create a feeling of dread in the viewer. From the moment that the audience learns of the previous caretaker family’s terrible fate, every image, from the elevator of blood to the terrifying stillness of the Grady twins, is intended to build upon the crushing certainty of Wendy and Danny’s murder.
The twins’ memorable line, “come and play with us Danny, forever… and ever… and ever” intercut with flashes of their grisly end, is a not-so-subtle allusion to Danny’s own potential fate. On a psychological level, Danny, who has already faced abuse at the hands of his father, sees the murdered twins as a haunting manifestation of what can happen to the children of a violent man. Some have also suggested that the twins sport a look similar to Danny’s mother Wendy, with their dark hair and a blue dress similar to the one she wears at the beginning of the movie, representing his fear that Jack will kill his mother.
Why The Grady Sisters Haunt The Overlook Hotel
The Creepy Twins In The Shining May Be The Only Friendly Spirits In The Film
It’s clear that the Overlook Hotel is a haunted, malevolent place that preserves the souls who die in it. However, this doesn’t explain why the Grady sisters don’t act like the other ghosts present at the hotel, who seem to work as a monolith bent on driving Jack Torrance into murderous insanity. It’s likely that the twins, despite their sinister appearance, are trying to help Danny. After all, it’s explained that they were killed after trying to burn down the Overlook; the girls were aware of the hotel’s dark power and tried to put an end to it.
One Shining twins theory even suggests that the Grady sisters may have had “the Shine”, a power which allows them to telepathically to communicate with Danny directly. When the twins show Danny images of their own death accompanied by the haunting “forever… and ever… and ever,” they’re not just trying to scare him; they’re warning him. Later in the movie, Jack tells Danny “I wish we could stay here forever… and ever… and ever.” The twins have given Danny context to understand this line for what it is: a sign that he and his mother are in grave danger of meeting the same end they did.
How The Shining Movie Changed The Sisters Compared To Stephen King’s Book
Kubrick’s Shining puts far more focus on the Grady sisters than Stephen King’s original novel. In the book, the girls are mentioned a few times but never feature. While they are not named, they are described as “cute as buttons.” Most importantly, King’s novel positions the girls as sisters, but not twins. The Grady girls are 8 and 10 years old in the novel. Kubrick changed the Grady sisters to two identical twins, Alexa and Alexie.
It was certainly a sharp move on Kubrick’s part to change the girls to twins. The sight of the identical pair speaking to Danny in monotone unison is one of cinema’s most enduringly creepy images. Kubrick’s reason for the change likely comes down to a desire to enhance the motif of doubles which runs through The Shining’s story. The novel is full of characters who are paired with unsettling reflections of themselves.
Danny has his imaginary friend, Tony, Jack has the previous caretaker, Dilbert Grady. By turning the sisters into twins, Kubrick enriches the theme, encouraging the viewer to reflect on the unsettling phenomenon of the double.
The Shining Twins In Pop Culture
The Ghosts Of The Twins Resonate With Viewers More Than Almost Anything Else In The Shining
It’s difficult to overstate the cultural legacy and pop culture impact of The Shining. Not only is it considered one of the best Stephen King adaptations, but it’s also regarded as the highpoint of the career of legendary director Stanley Kubrick, and the performance that made Jack Nicholson a household name. Even if the film existed in a vacuum away from the legacies of King and Kubrick, The Shining would still be regarded as one of the best horror movies ever made – an example of a movie responsible for the fame of the names attached to it, rather than one buoyed by them.
Given just how iconic the film is, it’s no surprise that The Shining has been parodied time and time again in other movies as well as many TV shows. However, it’s interesting just how often The Shining twins in particular have been used over the decades. Considering just how little the Grady Twins actually feature in the film, it’s something of a surprise at just how much they, of all the creepy goings-on in Kubrick’s 1980 horror, have appeared in or been referenced in the years since – especially in media that’s about as far from the horror genre as it’s possible to be.
For example, children’s movies seem like the last place a reference to a film as dark and, to many, disturbing as The Shining should appear. However, many family films contain Easter-Egg nods to the classic Stephen King adaptation, with many of these being obvious and direct parodies of the creepy twins in The Shining. For example, 2016’s The Angry Birds movie contains a The Shining parody sequence when Red (the titular angry bird) sneaks into the Pig Castle. During this scene, two of the green Pigs are dressed as the Grady twins, though instead of inviting Red to play with them, they instead say “REDRUM”.
Another example in a family-friendly movie comes in the 2015 SpongeBob SquarePants film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water. This reference is less on-the-nose than Angry Birds, and comes during a moment when Plankton jumps inside SpongeBob’s brain to explore his mind. Among the many bizarre things Plankton finds there are a twin pair of popsicles who speak exactly like The Shining twins, and for older viewers familiar with the 1980 movie, the reference is obvious.
Kids TV shows aren’t exempt either, as pony versions of The Shining twins have been spotted in the background of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode “Where The Apple Lies”. There are then, of course, the expected parodies from shows like The Simpson and Family Guy, both of which have included direct and obvious spoofs of the twins from The Shining among the dozens of references both have made to the film.
While Kubrick’s groundbreaking horror has no shortage of iconic moments, it does seem that one that resonates the most with audiences is also one of the most simple. As evidenced by how frequently they’re parodied, The Shining twins are now just as synonymous with the movie as the elevator of blood or Jack Nicholson’s unforgettable delivery of the line “here’s Johnny!”.
Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall tells the story of the Torrance family, who move to the isolated Overlook Hotel so that father Jack Torrance can act as its winter caretaker. Stuck at the hotel due to the winter storms, the malevolent supernatural forces inhabiting the building slowly begin to drive Jack insane, causing his wife and psychically gifted son to be caught up in a fight for their lives when Jack is pushed over the edge.
- Release Date
- June 13, 1980
- Runtime
- 146 minutes
