A definitive horror film that Stephen King ‘didn’t care for’ is airing on TV tonight (Friday, July 11) for free across the UK. The legendary 77-year-old is one of the most acclaimed authors of all time, having explored various genres during his iconic career. From his 1974 debut Carrie, King has gone on to write 65 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, five nonfiction books and 200 short stories. Including remakes, there are over 80 film adaptations of Stephen King’s work, with this month alone marking the release of TV series The Institute, based on his 2019 novel. Whether it was Christine in the 1980s, The Shawshank Redemption in the 1990s or It in the 2010s, every generation has a King adaptation they’re obsessed with. For many though, nothing tops Staney Kubrick’s The Shining, which is widely regarded as one of the best movies of all time. The 1980 psychological horror film, based on King’s 1977 novel, presents the descent into insanity of a recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist who takes a job as winter caretaker for a haunted mountain resort hotel. Joined by his wife Wendy and their young clairvoyant son Danny, Jack Torrance slowly descends into madness when he realises he probably should have stayed at home. Everyone loves the Shining, The Simpsons parodied it, it's Joey’s favourite book in Friends and every Halloween sees people dressing up as the creepy twins. However, the one person who detested it more than anyone was surprisingly King itself, who has spoken out about it on numerous occasions. Appearing on the David Letterman Show just months after The Shining’s release, King said: “I think The Shining is a beautiful film and it looks terrific and as I’ve said before, it’s like a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it. “In that sense, when it opened, a lot of the reviews weren’t very favourable and I was one of those reviewers. I kept my mouth shut at the time, but I didn’t care for it much.” He continued: “I feel the same because the character of Jack Torrance has no arc in that movie. Absolutely no arc at all. When we first see Jack Nicholson, he’s in the office of Mr. Ullman, the manager of the hotel, and you know, then, he’s crazy as a shit house rat. All he does is get crazier. “In the book, he’s a guy who’s struggling with his sanity and finally loses it. To me, that’s a tragedy. In the movie, there’s no tragedy because there’s no real change”. Kubrick didn’t take King’s critiques lightly, saying the author 'doesn't seem to take great care in writing’ in an interview with Vicente Molina Foix. "I think in the novel, King tries to put in too much of what I would call pseudo-character and pseudo-psychological clues, but certainly the essence of the character of Jack such as it is, that he puts in the novel, was retained. "The only change is we made Wendy perhaps more believable as a mother and a wife. I would say the psychological dynamics of the story, even in the novel, are not really changed. The characters become more clear, less cluttered; that’s it, less cluttered, better than simplified,” he said. The Shining is on Friday, July 11, on BBC Two and on the BBC iPlayer at 11pm