Room 237

An intruiging documentary. If you've loved & watched "The Shining" many, many times, this doc will still show you things you never noticed before.

The premise is that different theories about The Shining are examined. All of them start with an idea triggered by a single shot, but most fall apart as the originator attempts to expand and prove their theory. In the end, most of the theorists reveal themselves to be hilariously lost in the film and their reading of it.

Stanley Kubrick always stated that he wanted the film to have an unsettling affect on the viewer. This documentary proves that he succeeded. In the end "Room 237" is a piece that celebrates Kubrick's directorial brilliance and is a loving analysis of one of his best films.

"At the end of The Shining, he's reduced to a screaming ape, just like in the beginning of 2001 there are screaming apes." - John Fell Ryan

Astonishingly, the above statement, as bizarre, irrelevant and as bereft of any further analysis as it is (and I haven't taken it out of context; there really IS no further analysis or conclusion mined from that sentence), is possibly the sanest, most rational sentence uttered in Room 237, a documentary film by Rodney Asher lending a platform to some of the whackier interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's terrifying but relatively straightforward adaptation of Stephen King's classic novel, The Shining.

Essentially: The visuals of Room 237 are made up mostly of excerpts from The Shining (but also from...

This is a pretentious film with assertions that are way out in left field. The reason I gave it this score is my love for the original movie itself.