Dumb poster

"Various theatrical posters were used during the original 1980–1981 international release cycle, but in the U.S., where the film first opened, the primary poster and newspaper advert was designed by noted Hollywood graphic designer Saul Bass. Bass and Kubrick reportedly went through over 300 potential designs before settling on the final design of an unsettling, angry-looking, underlit, pointillistic doll-like face (which does not appear in the film) peering through the letters "The", with "SHiNiNG" below, in smaller letters. At the top of the poster are the words "A MASTERPIECE OF MODERN HORROR", with the credits and other information at the bottom.
The correspondence between the two men during the design process survives, including Kubrick's handwritten critiques on Bass's different proposed designs. Bass originally intended the poster to be black on a red background, but Kubrick, to Bass's dismay, chose to make the background yellow. In response, Bass commissioned a small, silkscreened print run of his original version, which also lacks the "masterpiece of modern horror" slogan, and has the credits in a compact white block at the bottom"


IT LOOKS BETTER IN RED.

Kubrick didn’t want anything given away in the movie poster. Then the studio used the famous one with Jack and Shelly that gives away a major part of the story.

There is an alternative poster where the face is surrounded in a blue stairway design. With 'The Shining' in red lettering above the face which I prefer to this far-too-much-yellow design.

The face kind of looks like the starchild from 2001

When I first saw the poster, I was intrigued. It gave nothing away. A little spooky imo.