The worlds of The Shining and Super Mario Bros. collide in a trippy new crossover video that turns the Overlook H๏τel into a video game level. Released in 1980, Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name is now a horror classic, chronicling Jack Torrance’s (Jack Nicholson) descent into madness while looking after a haunted H๏τel with his family. The film couldn’t be any more different from the child-friendly Super Mario franchise, which includes dozens of Nintendo games and multiple movie adaptations, including The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).

Now, Mark Cannataro Films on Instagram imagines what a crossover between The Shining and Super Mario Bros. would look like, and the result is quite strange. The video opens with Mario defeating Bowser before hacking his way through the door of Overlook H๏τel room 237, with the scene edited together with sH๏τs of Shelley Duvall screaming and cowering in the bathroom as Wendy Torrance. The rest of the video features a number of other moments from The Shining in Super Mario form, including Jack’s encounter in the room 237 bathroom. Check out the video below:

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The Shining References In The Super Mario Bros. Video Explained

How The Video Puts New Twists On Classic Kubrick Scenes

After that opening sequence of Mario breaking the door down, which actually mirrors the end of The Shining when Jack has fully gone mad, the video puts a unique Super Mario spin on what transpires in room 237. In the film, Jack embraces and kisses a ɴuᴅᴇ woman who steps out of the bathtub before she then turns into an old woman with rotting flesh. The video, however, replaces the younger ɴuᴅᴇ woman with a clothed Princess Peach, with the Super Mario princess then transforming into Toad.

From there, the video features a greatest hits of moments from The Shining. Mario hops onto a recreation of Danny’s tricycle and witnesses a recreation of the movie’s iconic elevator scene, with blood pouring out into the hallway toward the camera. The video then includes a more comedic take on one particularly haunting moment from The Shining in which Wendy witnesses a man in a dog costume performing oral Sєx on another man. In the crossover, however, it’s Mario in a dog costume and he’s seemingly using a vacuum.

The last moments of the video feature twin Princess Peaches as stand-ins for the Grady sisters, telling Mario to “Come and play with us.” In the movie, it’s revealed that Delbert Grady murdered his family, including his twin daughters, after going mad, but the Super Mario video doesn’t include this backstory. After Mario agrees to play with the twins, unlike Danny, who never did, the trio are seen playing a game as the camera zooms in on an old pH๏τo of Mario at the Overlook, with the video ending just as The Shining did.

Our Take On The Shining & Super Mario Bros. Crossover

Why A Real Crossover Will Never Happen

A crossover between The Shining and Super Mario Bros. is an odd one given the vastly different audiences for the two franchises. While The Shining is rated R for the inclusion of strong language, violence, and nudity, all elements of the Super Mario Bros. franchise have been aimed at audiences of all ages. This is part of what makes certain elements of the crossover video so jarring and so comedic. While it’s certainly amusing in a bite-sized Instagram video, audiences shouldn’t expect a real-life crossover with The Shining in a Super Mario Bros. game anytime soon.

Source: @markcannatarofilms