A scarce and unusual 'Weekend Mirror' style teaser quad for the British release of Stanley Kubrick's 1980 modern horror masterpiece The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. Based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King, the seminal psychological horror initially opened to mixed reviews, before growing momentum over the summer of 1980 to become an American box-office success. With anticipation building for the October 1980 British release, Warner Bros. made the canny marketing decision to reproduce a tabloid newspaper spread from the Saturday, August 30, 1980, edition of the Daily Mirror, on the tide of terror that is sweeping across America, for their advance British teaser campaign. Despite a demented Nicholson featuring among the striking images in stark black and white, the eye is drawn to the teaser Coming Soon! splashed in blood red across the article. Now regarded as one of the most influential horror films in cinema history, key scenes and motifs such as the eerie Grady twins have become ingrained in our popular culture, spawning numerous homages, references and parodies, including an entire sequence in Steven Spielberg's 2018 sci-fi adventure Ready Player One.
Condition
Excellent (A-)
Conservation backed on linen in the European style with no restoration whatsoever. Prior to backing this poster had one horizontal and three vertical machine folds as issued with light wear and spots of black ink transfer to folds and minor nicks and creases to edges. Backing has smoothed and diminished the appearance of fold lines for display. Small grubby ink mark to right margin, slight darkening to edges and a few spots of light ink transfer to white ground. Image and colours otherwise excellent.