It’s not uncommon for adaptations of Stephen King’s novels to fall short of expectations. In fact, less than a quarter of the more than sixty films based on his books have received favorable reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Over time, King has gained a reputation for writing stories that are notoriously difficult to translate successfully to the big screen.

Surprisingly, the film that Clint Eastwood disapproves of isn’t the 2022 “Firestarter” remake or any of the other poorly received King adaptations. Instead, it’s the 1980 film “The Shining,” widely regarded as one of the finest Stephen King movie adaptations and a classic in the horror genre. Here’s what Eastwood has to say about this iconic film.

To Clint Eastwood, “The Shining” falls flat. In a reprinted interview found in “Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson’s Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979-1983,” Eastwood shared his thoughts after attending a screening of the film. He remarked, “Unfortunately, the scary parts were not very scary. That ax scene, coming in with the ax to hit Scat [Crothers], it’s dead as a d***.” Despite its acclaim as one of the greatest horror films ever, “The Shining” doesn’t resonate with everyone, and even Stephen King himself has criticized it.

As far as Clint Eastwood is concerned, “The Shining” is a terrible movie. The filmmaker did not mince words about this in a reprinted discussion featured in the book “Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson’s Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979-1983.” In the sit-down, Eastwood recalled attending a screening of the movie and not being impressed. “Unfortunately, the scary parts were not very scary,” said Eastwood. “That ax scene, coming in with the ax to hit Scat [Crothers], it’s dead as a d***.” While many would argue that “The Shining” is one of the greatest horror movies of all time, it’s certainly not a universal consensus, with even Stephen King having negative feelings about the movie.

What Eastwood found especially galling was director Stanley Kubrick’s own boastfulness. It was reportedly Kubrick’s idea to promote his film with the tagline, “A masterpiece of modern horror.” Mind you, this was not quoted from a movie critic -– these were Kubrick’s own words. According to Eastwood, some studio executives told the filmmaker, “‘Stanley, maybe you better wait and let some reviewer stick the byline on the film because it might be considered a little forward of you to do it.’” Instead, claims Eastwood, the “2001: A Space Odyssey” director decided his movie was a masterpiece and marketed it as such.

Although Clint Eastwood hated “The Shining,” the majority of movie critics felt differently. Eastwood was convinced that Kubrick only got a free pass because of his reputation among the industry.

In the same interview with Paul Nelson, Eastwood suggested that the director’s perfectionism was to blame for the film’s quality, with Kubrick famously calling for dozens of takes on any particular scene. The exact number of takes the cast endured is still debated, with actor Scatman Crothers recalling doing between 40 to nearly 90 attempts on a single shot. This bizarre occurrence on “The Shining” set naturally left the players exhausted. Eastwood speculated that this led to the stilted performances, stating, “I have to assume that they were just beaten down by the whole overall thing.” By extension, Eastwood wondered if the film would have been better had Kubrick adopted his own preferred method of going with the first or second take, rather than spending too much time and money perfecting all the wrong things.

With that said, Eastwood still praised Kubrick’s earlier works, such as 1956’s “The Killing.” But as the director shifted from groundbreaking independent films to big-budget productions, Eastwood believed that Kubrick’s films had grown increasingly indulgent.