This Epic Dad Made His Twin Girls Play Out That Famous Scene From The Shining

Father of the year? That depends on which side of the hotel hallway on which you are standing. But Martin Hughes is having some fun with his twin daughters, dressing them up in matching outfits and having them stand in a London hotel as if they were the horrifying twin girls from his favorite movie, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. And people on social media don't love it. First, the girls in action:

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Adorable. Innocent. And all in good fun, right? Martin Hughes tells People that The Shining is his favorite movie, and ever since his 4-year-old twin daughters, Poppy and Isabella, were born, he has been thinking up ways for the girls to help him pay tribute to the horror classic. He says that the girls, by nature, aren't natural pranksters, explaining:

They're too young at the moment to want to prank people, but they're best friends who have a real mischievous streak. When the girls are older, I'm sure they'll enjoy scaring people. Right now, they mainly enjoy swapping names and tricking us into conversations where they pretend to be the other sister. It can get pretty confusing.

You know what else is confusing? When people on social media lash out because a guy is pulling an innocent prank with his daughters. As Martin Hughes says to People, the response from some people online to the prank has been "pretty out there." Like this person, who suggested he'd "stomp" the girls for surprising him?

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I think the Hughes twins are cute. But just because they are wearing matching outfits doesn't necessarily make them look like The Shining girls, even if they are standing in a hotel hallway. I mean, Martin Hughes could have gone the extra mile and found dresses that look more like the light blue nightmares that the girls in Stanley Kubrick's movie are wearing. Rewatch this infamous scene and relive one of the film industry's most disturbing visuals.

Dammit, Danny, just play with them already! The Shining, released in 1980, adapted Stephen King's third novel, which focused on a family who moves to a snow-bound hotel in the Colorado Rockies, only to have the father slowly go insane under the influence of supernatural forces. King has, for years, dismissed Stanley Kubrick's interpretation of the novel, though many have come to embrace the movie for what insanity it presents in its own dark corners. It has inspired prankster Martin Hughes. Which one do you prefer?

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Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.