Here’s Johnny!” The details of Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1980 film The Shining have become ingrained in modern culture. Even if you don’t know that you know the movie, you probably know the movie. And to celebrate and investigate the way in which The Shining has permeated modern culture, Rodney Ascher is releasing his documentary, Room 237, to seemingly universal acclaim.

Ascher uncovers some of the many conspiracy theories that have developed around the movie. Some of which are pretty outrageous, all of which are entirely engaging and delivered in a compelling fashion by the director. The documentary opened at the Sundance, Cannes and Toronto film festivals and word of mouth will undoubtedly ensure that Room 237 becomes a must-see for horror fans, movie lovers and conspiracy theory buffs alike.

 

Kubrick fans, of course, will be delighted at the level of detail that has gone into Room 237, as well as the conspiracies of which it is compiled. As Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian remarks, “Kubrick was himself a detail obsessive, and that fact makes these theories very seductive.” Dave Calhoun of Time Out commends the movie for making the viewer look in depth at The Shining and think beyond the surface meaning, not just of that movie, but of any: What's attractive about 'Room 237' is how it demands that we look more closely at films, and think about motives and subtexts.” And Variety’s Rob Nelson surmises, rather simply, that Room 237 is “one of the great movies about movies.”

Read our review of Room 237 here