The Grady Twins from The Shinning by Funko Rock Candy

The Shining came out in 1980, back then I was way too young to go and see it at the cinema, but I did see it a couple of years later when it was released on video, and several times after that when it was shown on late night TV. 

At the time I was around the same age as Danny Torrance  played Danny Lloyd in the film. 

I don't know why I was so into the film it has so many creepy and weird moments and down right frightening ones too.

 I guess because Mum's first husband was an alcoholic and a vicious monster of one at that, I really related to the character Danny, he was around my age after all and had the ability to know things before they happened, I did too. 

imdb.com

He saw ghosts of people long since past, I'd had experiences with that too, he "called" Dick Hallorann when he needed help... I guess I somehow did that too!

 Once when I was really ill and at our caravan in All Hallows, Kent with my Brother, Nan and Great Aunt Ollie, I got ill from eating a savloy and was calling for my Mum who was at the time back home in Waltham Abbey (almost 50 miles away), as she had to work...

 The next day, I was fine and we went to a pay phone on the site to call Mum to let her know how our holiday was going...

 She asked me if I was ok the night before and if I'd been calling for her, I told her I had... 

She told me she had been hoovering the previous night and thought she heard me, she turned off the hoover and could hear my panicked voice calling "Mummy" it worried her so much she almost got in the car and drove to us, but after a few minutes it stopped so she assumed she had imagined it.

 Danny and I had things in common, and we both lived with a monster who was violent and terrifying one who thought nothing of threatening or attempting to kill us, so I could totally understand his fear, his connection to Dick Hallorann and his visions.

bloody-disgusting.com

Stanley Kubrick perfectly captures that atmosphere, the feeling of needing to walk on eggshells and never quite knowing what to trust even when the monster seems to have turned back into a loving family man... The tension he builds up in that film is something that I understand only to well, it's not easy to describe but the intensity is palpable...

Some parts of the film are too close for comfort like the scene where Jack Torrance is climbing the stairs looking for his wife and holding an axe...

That said I oddly love this film and always have, I think it's because in some ways I felt a kinship with the characters but it's more than that, it probably sounds perverse but there is a certain comfort to be felt when watching things from real life that don't make sense being played out on a screen, or maybe it's just because I can disconnect from it because it's happening to them... not us!?

I've always loved films and stories about possessions and ghosts, but again it goes deeper than that, I guess if I find the words to explain it I'll come back and write it down here.

New York Daily News

The worse thing for me was the Killing of  Dick Hallorann played by Scatman Crothers (I've always loved that actor, he reminds me so much of my Uncle Alf, looks-wise and he always came across as such a kindly man too. To this day I still have a very soft spot for him.) after he comes to help Danny after hearing his "call".

Jack Torrance kissing the decomposing corpse of Mrs. Massey in room 237 was pretty gross, but it's never really upset me in the way Dick Hallorann's death did.

 I was glad to find out several years later when I read the book and discovered a very different ending for his character and the Torrance's themselves.

Reddit

I think for most people some of the scariest parts of the film is the various appearances of "The Grady Twins" played by Lisa and Louise Burns. I was never really in that camp. Don't get me wrong they are creepy little things, but not scary in the way other themes the film explores are.

Not even the images of them shown in flashes, lying blood soaked on the floor bothered me that much although Danny's reaction to them certainly unnerved me, so did the way they said "Play with us Danny, for ever, and ever and ever".

google

More than anything, I've always been intrigued by them and their presence in the Overlook Hotel.

Like most I presume they are the daughters of a previous Caretaker, called Grady - whom the Manager informs Jack Torrance, prior to showing him and his family around the hotel - "run amok and killed his family with an axe". 

This has always confused me as the "Twins" or ghost girls are not mentioned in the novel, only in the film and so all we really have to explain their presence in the hotel is the story of Grady at the start of the film and the images of them as seen by Danny... 

In the scene of their murder an axe is clearly placed in the foreground and as we know Grady had two daughters and killed his family with an axe, it makes sense that they are in fact his children. 

However, the Manager of the Overlook Stuart Ullman gives the Grady girls ages as being "about 8 and 10" so they can't possibly be "The Twins" Danny sees in his visions... Can they??

Well, whoever they are and whoever they belong to they look adorable as Rock Candy Figures by Funko... Just look at their little faces!

The box has a sticker on it stating that these figures are 2018 Fall Convention Exclusives and Limited Edition, but they have no number that I could see on their box and it's really hard to find any information on them apart from what can be gleamed from their packaging or the figures themselves.

The packaging it'self is perfect in it's attention to detail and they use the iconic orange and brown carpet Danny plays on as decoration for the front, back and sides of the box.

Another detail I really appreciated is on the right side of the box, which has an image of Danny's tricycle, then the Twins, then Danny with his hands covering his face, just like first scene they appear in in the film!

                                         
                                                           Classic VHS Horror

The figures themselves are moulded holding hands, so cannot be separated. They stand approximately 7 inches tall and come with a round clear plastic base so they can stand up independently as being joined together, they are quite heavy for this kind of figure.

Their little dresses are almost identical to the ones the girls wore in the film, they even have little splats of blood on them, this however, is nowhere near as widespread as it is on screen. In the film the girls are pretty much saturated with blood as they lay dead in the hall, here they have been depicted with tiny little splots on their abdomens.

Their hair is also in the same style as their onscreen counterparts, but is a much darker colour... these gripes are very minor and certainly don't detract from the cuteness of these figures at all.

From behind it's easy to see that they were made by Funko, something about the way the hair is moulded screams Funko at me, but as I have several Funko figures that is in no way a criticism, it's just an interesting (for me anyway!) point I thought I'd note.

They are so such and quirky that I can't help smiling ever time I look at them!

Ok, that's me done for now...

Take care,

Follow