The Film: The Shining (1980)

Tortured How? Struggling with writers' block, Torrance decides that what he and his family (wife Wendy and son Danny) really need is a break away from it all. So they become winter caretakers of an isolated, spooky old hotel. Brilliant.

Soon, Danny is seeing visions and Jack is being driven mad thanks to a combination of the building's strange psychic essence, the ghosts of former guests and a nasty case of cabin fever. Cue manic dashes around the hotel trying to "fix" his family.

He does do a fair amount of writing, but it gets awfully repetitive.

Sample Dialogue: "Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in."

How We'd Help: A couple of weeks in the Caribbean and a serious dose of chill pills ought to help Jackie calm himself down. Just don't let him see anyone chopping wood.