Room 237 (2012) | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

Audience Reviews

Jacob B This film gives film analysis a terrible name! The only thing the “documentary” (or visual essay or whatever you’d like to call it) does well—maybe inadvertently— is show how a piece of art can elicit not only different reactions but also a myriad of different interpretations. In this piece, however, the people giving their personal interpretations are so incredibly pompous and off target. They seem to start with a predetermined conclusion and then work backwards trying to shoehorn tiny seconds of film or tiny, obscure set props into what they seem to think is hidden subtext left for them by Kubrick, the man with “an IQ of 300”, as they mention. Could any of the things they point out be something else: like editing mistakes, continuity errors, etc.? No!! Not in these peoples minds. But when the insanity reaches its apex midway through when a “film analyst” tells us that the clouds in the sky are air brushed to look like Stanley Kubrick and they OBVIOUSLY are not, that is when I feel as if the film starts to play as a parody that is mocking film analysts and critics. If you think I’m exaggerating, just listen to the man who blathers on about how “The Shining” is actually all about the Holocaust…I kid you not! Or another egghead that talks about how it’s actually about the killing of Native Americans….and those are a few of the more “well thought out” ones. Thankfully, several people actually involved with the making of “The Shining” and Stephen King as well (who’s own feelings about Kibricks film are well known) dismissed this mess as the ramblings of a very small group of film “scholars” who have spent too much time in their ivory towers. The only thing I feel the film did well was to show us what happens when people spend too much time reading their own personal beliefs into everything they see and being concerned about what they feel and think rather than what is. Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/22/25 Full Review Mark J Some bits of this are really insightful and show how amazingly The Shining was constructed. Other bits are the ramblings of lunatics. Worth a watch if you don’t mind the latter. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/20/25 Full Review Almighty A It's all an illusion... Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/12/25 Full Review Joel P Absolutely ridiculous, pretentious garbage. Some people like to lay claim to a perspective because it defines them as insightful. Or so they believe. The opening narrative about being ‘terrified’ at the innocuous opening shots of scenery in The Shining turned me off immediately. Don’t waste your time on this. Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 11/28/24 Full Review Simon T This film is ridiculous, trying to link far fetched connections that just aren’t there and making statements that are pure ignorance. So much that I couldn’t make it past the first 20 minutes. A few gleaming examples stood out. First is the comments that the Torrance family brought too much luggage…they were moving there with all of their belongings, did they even read the book on which the film was loosely based? Second is the fact that the creators of this atrocity didn’t even do minimal research on where Timberline Lodge is located…hint it’s not Fort Hood, it’s on Mt. Hood just outside of Government Camp, OR. The third and final straw was the utter lack of any professionalism by having one whackos kid in the background. What a horrible bag of ridiculous conspiracy theories. Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 08/31/24 Full Review Evan T I was really invested in this doc until they went on a 15 mine rambling rant about the moon landing being fake. Disgusting conspiracy theorists. Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/24 Full Review Read all reviews

Room 237

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