The Shining is the title of a 1977 novel by Stephen King and a 1980 film by Stanley Kubrick, but it would also make a sensational name for a multi-purpose household surface cleaner. The word “shining” suggests a blinding cleanliness and, let’s face it, in a dusty, cobweb laden, haunted hotel where blood literally pours out of the elevator by the gallon, there are ample uses for such a miracle product. That’s the underlying premise of a new commercial parody written and performed by Dudley Beene, whose fascinating IMDb page claims he was a writer on both The Cosby Show 25th Anniversary Special and Judge Judy: Justice Served.
Dressed as Shelley Duvall, complete with black wig and shapeless dress, Beene does a direct-to-camera testimonial on behalf of Shining™ Surface Cleaner, whose bottle bears the same hexagonal pattern as the carpet of the infamous hotel. “With Shining,” Beene says with the stubborn optimism of Duvall’s Wendy Torrance character, “There’s nothing to overlook, ’cause all it leaves is the shining.” Even when Beene discovers that an unnamed someone has scrawled “REDRUM” on the kitchen cabinets, it’s no match for Shining™ Surface Cleaner. Could Lysol, Clorox, or Formula 409 make that same promise? (In retrospect, the name Formula 409 does have a certain Kubrickian menace to it.) Meanwhile, fans of viral videos may be delighted to find out that Beene’s video begins with those immortal words: “Hello, I’m Shelley Duvall.”