Room 237 (2024)

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What's the deal with room 237? ›

Room 237 in the film is where Danny and Jack encounter a ghostly woman, but her true identity remains unclear, leading to different theories. Theories suggest that the woman in room 237 could be the mother of the Grady twins, Bob T. Watson's wife or sister, or represent sexual abuse within the story.

On July 1977, her lover departed the hotel and left her behind. Abandoned and alone, she spent the next day drinking in the Colorado Lounge, then went up to her room and slit her wrists in the bathtub. Her spirit appears either as the beautiful woman she was or the rotting corpse she becomes.

An analysis of Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining, and the people who believe they have succeeded in decoding the iconic film's hidden messages and symbols.

Room 237 / Film synopsis

Room 237 is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Rodney Ascher about interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining (1980) which was adapted from the 1977 novel of the same name by Stephen King.

Room 237 typically ranges from $199 to $319.

237 is a lucky number, and one of the numbers in Aronson's sequence. The 237th square pyramidal number, 4465475, is also a sum of two smaller square pyramidal numbers. There are only four smaller numbers (55, 70, 147, and 226) with the same property.

Room 217, where King and his wife stayed, is supposedly haunted by the hotel's chief housekeeper, who was gravely injured in a gas explosion in 1911. And room 237, of course, is the one you'll know from the book. Whatever you do, avoid room 237.

Moments later, he would improvise the “Here's Johnny!” line, which was a reference to the intro of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Interestingly, Kubrick originally shot the scene with a fake door, but Nicholson – who once trained as a fire marshal – chopped it down too quickly.

The family has to care for the hotel for the winter, but they cannot leave the mountainous area. In this isolation every day becomes the same for Jack as his writer's block becomes quotidian. The combination of isolation, monotony, creative frustration, and supernatural forces extract Jack's insanity.

That woman then became a rather ugly, rotting old woman who chased Jack out, cackling at his infidelity. It is assumed that the rotting old woman is Lorraine Massey. This navigation box is currently under construction.

Is room 237 a good movie? ›

Mostly silly interpretations, but if you like the Shining it's worth a view. An exploration of various interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's horror film, The Shining (1980). Sometimes ridiculous interpretations and conspiracy theories about the meanings behind this amazing film. People get what they want out of it.

But if you can get people to the point where they have to think a moment what it is you're getting at, and then discover it, the thrill of discovery goes right through the heart.” Born on July 26, 1928 in Bronx, NY, despite his intelligence—he famously had an IQ of 200 and was a gifted chess player—Kubrick was a poor ...

He instead encountered a young naked woman in the bathroom, having a bath who came out and kissed him. That woman then became a rather ugly, rotting old woman who chased Jack out, cackling at his infidelity. It is assumed that the rotting old woman is Lorraine Massey.

Massey refused and proceeded to drink all day in the Colorado Lounge. She swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills in the bathtub of room 217 that same night, killing herself. Several characters in The Shining have experiences with the ghost of Mrs. Massey in room 217, including Delores Vickery, Hallorann, Danny, and Jack.

The Shining is partially based on a true story, as the supernatural elements of Jack Torrance's stay at the Overlook Hotel are inspired by a real haunting in Colorado and the Stanley Hotel where King stayed.