It only took a little less than two minutes and one single line for the The Shining twins to “forever…and ever… and ever” be etched in the history of horror. Their identical pale blue dress with a pink ribbon tied around their waist, knee-high socks, and black Mary Jane shoes have become a staple during Halloween.
Their iconic hallway scene has also been parodied, recreated, and referenced too many times. In fact, the twins have been searched on Google considerably more than the film’s lead character Jack Torrance.
“Come Play With Us”
The twins from ‘The Shining,’ known as the Grady twins, are ghosts in the Overlook hotel who had been murdered by their father, Mr. Grady, an axe-wielding madman.
The girls appear at the end of an empty hotel hallway, standing hand-in-hand, staring at Jack Torrance’s son Danny who had just turned the corner on his blue and red tricycle. Then, in a hollow voice, the twins invited him in unison, “Come and play with us, Danny,” and chanted, “Forever… and ever… and ever.”
The creepy hallway scene was juxtaposed with the vision of the past, of the twins’ violent end and their lifeless, bloody bodies lying on the floor.
Unlike other horror films that rely on jump scare to incite fear, Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ (adapted from the novel of the same name by Stephen King) used psychic horror with the twins creating that imagery. And it was far more unnerving than getting yourself physically knocked hard back into your seat because you screamed out of surprise.
Who Played the Grady Twins?
The iconic twins were played by then-12-year-old real-life twins Lisa and Louise Burns. In their interview in 2015 with the Daily Mail, they shared that Kubrick hadn’t actually been looking for twins. The audition was for sisters – two girls of different ages, just like in the book – but it worked in their favor when he decided that twins were just spookier.
It came way too easy for the girls to act because, as they admitted, they were naturally spooky. Though to create an unsettling vibe effectively, they said they had to practice their timing multiple times. They also worked on saying their iconic line in what they described as a “hollow, other-worldly kind of way.”
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Working on a horror film set with lots of people wearing scary makeup didn’t bother them at all. To them, it felt like they were just attending an elaborate fancy dress party. “It just wasn’t that freaky,” the Burns said, speaking with Cosmopolitan. Lisa and Louise didn’t recall being scared, even with their bloody scene.
Their makeup artist Tom Smith also took the extra mile to show them how he made the ‘blood’ so that it wouldn’t distress them. They were even given a bottle of the fake blood used, which they still have with them. Funny enough, the only thing they actually worried about was the cold weather.
According to the twins, Kubrick was a perfectionist and had already mapped out exactly how he would pour the blood all over them. And he also had to do multiple takes. So, they had to stay extremely still for a long time.
Where are the Shining Twins Now?
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After their stint in Hollywood, the twins focused on their own careers. Lisa studied literature at university and became a lawyer, while Louise got into Microbiology and is now a scientist. But they are still active on social media, with joint accounts on both Twitter (@Shining_twins) and Facebook (@ShiningTwins) to connect with fans. Lisa also has her own account on Twitter (@Shinefroth), but there hasn’t been any recent activity.
‘The Shining’ twins have definitely become classic characters in horror, and the film is one of the most influential films in the genre of all time.