The Horror Movie That Inspired ‘The Shining’ Actually Scared Stephen King

The Big Picture

• Burnt Offerings
  pre-dates
  The Shining
  , offering a chilling take on a family’s descent into madness in a haunted house.
• Director Dan Curtis creates a nuanced horror film that slowly drains the life out of the Rolfe family, resulting in terrifying and violent events.
• Marian’s fate in
  Burnt Offerings
  is more disturbing than Jack Torrance’s, as she becomes a vessel for evil, leading to a shocking and horrifying conclusion.

Home is the one place everyone should feel safe… unless yours is trying to kill your family and turn you into a deranged psychopath. The plot is a familiar one, and many cinephiles would argue that no haunted house movie has done it better than The Shining. Based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King, The Shining famously follows the doomed Torrance family, as they head to the Overlook Hotel for the winter. At the hotel, unseen forces drive the patriarch, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), to nearly kill his family, before his wife and son narrowly escape its ethereal claws. Considered one of the best psychedelic horror films of all time, it remains a frequently rewatched and studied classic. However, there is another film that mastered this same type of story; one that was even scarier than the Stanley Kubrick milestone.

Based on Robert Marasco‘s 1973 novel of the same name, Burnt Offerings pre-dates The Shining. Featuring an all-star cast, from scream queen Karen Black to beloved star, Oliver Reed, and even forever megastar, Bette Davis, the film not only employs a similar unhinged family unit, but takes a more sinister approach to the supernatural elements. With intensity and scares around every corner, the movie is chilling throughout and builds to a jaw-dropping conclusion that will even scare a pair of creepy twins, not to mention The Shining‘s creator.

‘Burnt Offerings’ Had Stephen King’s Approval

Burnt Offerings began as a novel by author and playwright, Robert Marasco. It tells the story of Marian and Ben Rolfe, who take their son, David, and elderly Aunt Elizabeth to a remote vacation home for the summer. The book received acclaim from the New York Times who said it “terrifies even by daylight,” and, even more impressively, from master of horror himself, Stephen King. Valancourt Books, who re-published the novel in 2015, quotes King, who called Burnt Offerings “near brilliance . . . [a] disturbing tale, and one which comes highly recommended not just to fans of the genre but to the general reader.”

Director Dan Curtis, who had previously partnered with Karen Black for the acclaimed ABC movie, Trilogy of Terror, began production on Burnt Offerings in August 1975. The film follows the same plot as the novel, with a classic haunted house set up at first. The Rolfe family comes to a home owned by a brother and sister, who are looking to rent it out for the summer at a shockingly low price. Though the estate has seen better days, Marian (Karen Black) is quickly drawn to the potential and begs Ben (Oliver Reed) to jump on the opportunity. Ben isn’t so sure at first, as the homeowners have a catch: In order for the Rolfe’s to rent the house, they must agree to take care of their elderly mother, Mrs. Allardyce. Too fragile to leave the property, they claim she won’t be any trouble. Marian would simply have to leave her a meal tray a few times a day. After some raunchy persuading, Ben agrees and they move in. Although things are seemingly peaceful at first, strange occurrences begin to take place around the house.

When Ben cuts his thumb, a previously burnt-out light is restored. Plants slowly come back to life as Aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis) becomes tired. Most frightening of all, while playing a game in the newly restored pool, Ben becomes beast-like and attempts to drown David (Lee Montgomery). Ben snaps out of his frightening state and begins to question what’s going on in the strange house. He’s not the only one lost to these effects, though. Marian becomes obsessed with the estate and, as more occurs, she becomes increasingly terrifying to her family. Marian’s arc and the overall plot are not all that different from that of The Shining, but Burnt Offerings has a few, terrifying tricks that make the Rolfes’ summer far scarier than that of the Torrances’ winter.

Despite Similar Stories, ‘Burnt Offerings’ Upstages ‘The Shining’

While Jack Torrance’s descent into madness makes him the personification of the Overlook’s evil nature, Burnt Offerings takes a more nuanced approach with its big bad. This gives the audience a greater sense of fear as it builds to its climax. In contrast to The Shining‘s Overlook hotel chipping away at Jack’s mind, the house in Burnt Offerings slowly sucks the life from the Rolfe’s. The house repairs and restores itself as its drained residents age. For Ben, David and Elizabeth, it does this with haunting and violent tactics. Childhood nightmares of his mother’s funeral haunt Ben, most notably, the memory of a wickedly pleased hearse driver. Soon, the driver begins to manifest around the property, stalking Ben. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, a formerly active woman despite her age, deteriorates quickly. All energy is drained from her and she becomes forgetful. Her despair and Ben’s horror meet a crossing point when her health takes a turn for the worst. As the Rolfe’s call for a doctor, they’re instead met by the gleeful chauffeur. When Elizabeth dies, Marian goes to the greenhouse to find that hundreds of previously dead flowers have re-blossomed. After, Ben and David attend Elizabeth’s funeral, but absent is perhaps the house’s greatest victim: Marian.

Similar to Jack, Marian becomes a stranger to her own family, putting more care into the house than she does them. She begins to dress strangely, her hair grays, and she is detached from the things that matter. What makes her arc more disturbing than Jack Torrance’s is that she embraces what the house does to her. When Ben and David return from the funeral, she looks more like a character from Haunted Mansion, dressed in period clothes and forcing her son to drink his soda from a creepy goblet. Ben begins to realize that Marian is no longer the wife he loves and, after a fight about her care for the house and the mysterious Mrs. Allardyce, Marian retreats to the elderly hostess’ room, where she sits at Mrs. Allardyce’s dinner tray and begins to eat. Though subtle, the image is deeply disturbing and creepy in an uncomfortable way. Move over, Grady Twins, Marian’s got you beat.

Ben tries to escape with David that very night, but the house launches a violent attack, stopping their car and injuring Ben. Marian finds them and takes them back home, now in complete control… or is she? The next day, Ben has dissassociated due to the trauma. David is desperate to get his dad out of the disturbed state. While Marian prepares lunch, Ben tries to show off to his dad by swimming in the deep end of the pool. Marian spots him through a window, and tries to stop him. But the house won’t let her out. The pool becomes a turbulent vat of waves, pulling David under. Ben tries to snap out of his state but is paralyzed. Desperate and finally broken of the house’s spell, Marian breaks out of her prison and saves David. She vows the family will finally leave the house, and seems done with the ordeal, but Mrs. Allardyce isn’t done with her.

Marian Rolfe’s Fate Is Worse Than Jack Torrence’s

It seems as though the Rolfe’s will get away, not unlike Wendy and Danny Torrance. They even pile into the car. But just as it seems a ‘happy enough’ ending is to be, Marian realizes she forgot to tell Mrs. Allardyce that they were leaving. Her family begs her not to go back into the house, but she reassures them, she’ll be right back. As she ascends the stairs to Mrs. Allardyce’s room, straightening pictures along the way, it becomes clear that Marian is done for. After several minutes pass, Ben decides to go look for Marian, leaving David in the car. When he arrives, he finally lays eyes on the infamous Mrs. Allardyce: An elderly woman in a wheelchair, looking out her windows. He asks Mrs. Allardyce where Marian is, but receives no answer. Frustrated, he turns the old woman around to reveal the film’s most horrific revelation yet: Marian has become Mrs. Allardyce. The loving wife and mother, determined to get her family out just moments ago is gone, her body a vessel for the evil spirit. She stands and pushes Ben put the window. He smashes, face first, through the windshield, his blood splashing over a horrified David.

David runs from the car, but does not get far as the house sends its chimney down upon him, ending the young boy’s life violently. The owners return to find the house completely restored to its former glory and their “beloved mother” returned to them. In the end, every character the audience hoped would get away is a victim of something much larger and much more malevolent than can be explained. The Overlook may have taken Jack Torrance, but Mrs. Allardyce takes so much more.

Burnt Offerings is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

Stream on Prime Video