Exclusive: Alternate Room 237 poster is a brain-buster

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

This Friday sees the release of Rodney Ascher’s ROOM 237, a provacative look at the theories surrounding the potential hidden meanings and coded messages behind Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror masterpiece THE SHINING, and today we have an exclusive look at the alternate poster for the mesmerizing documentary.

After the box office failure of Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick decided to embark on a project that might have more commercial appeal. The Shining, Stephen King’s biggest critical and commercial success yet, seemed like a perfect vehicle. After an arduous production, Kubrick’s film received a wide release in the summer of 1980; the reviews were mixed, but the box office, after a slow start, eventually picked up. End of story? Hardly. In the 30 years since the film’s release, a considerable cult of Shining devotees has emerged, fans who claim to have decoded the film’s secret messages addressing everything from the genocide of Native Americans to a range of government conspiracies. Rodney Ascher’s wry and provocative Room 237 fuses fact and fiction through interviews with cultists and scholars, creating a kaleidoscopic deconstruction of Kubrick’s still-controversial classic.”

ROOM 237 opens theatrically this Friday, March 29th, and will also be available on VOD, SundanceNOW, and other digital outlets from that date. Check out the trailer below.