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‘The Shining’ Conspiracy ‘Room 237’ Dated For Home Video
In 1980, Stanley Kubrick, who had earlier created landmarks in the genres of black comedy (Dr. Strangelove) and science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey), released his masterpiece of modern horror, The Shining. Over 30 years later we’re still struggling to unearth its hidden meanings. Rodney Ascher’s wry and provocative documentary Room 237 (review) fuses fact, fiction and speculation through interviews with both fervent fans of the film and scholars, creating a kaleidoscopic deconstruction of Kubrick’s controversial classic. It comes to Blu-ray and double-disc DVD from IFC Midnight on September 24, 2013.
Many movies lend themselves to wide-ranging interpretations, but few as rich and mysterious as The Shining, Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s bestselling novel. In Rodney Ascher’s Room 237, we hear from people who have developed complex theories about the film and believe they have decoded the hidden symbols and messages buried in the late director’s unforgettable shocker, in which a family man (played by Jack Nicholson) descends into madness while serving as the off-season caretaker of a deserted old hotel. The Shining received mixed reviews upon its initial release, but over the decades its stature has only grown, with Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese ranking it among the greatest horror films ever made.
Carefully examining The Shining inside and out, and forwards and backwards, Room 237 is equal parts captivating, provocative and pure pleasure. It gives voice to the fans and scholars who espouse these theories, reworking Kubrick’s film to match their ideas and intercutting it with layers of dreamlike imagery to illustrate their streams of consciousness. Sometimes outrageous, always engaging, the words of the interviewees are given full force by Ascher’s compelling vision.
An Official Selection at the 2012 Sundance, Cannes and Toronto film festivals, and winner of the Best Director prize at Fantastic Fest, Room 237 received a theatrical release by IFC Films in top markets and earned glowing reviews.
On September 24, the same day that Room 237 arrives on Blu-ray and two-disc DVD, Stephen King will publish Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining. In the new novel, Danny Torrance, the child who escaped his violently insane father at the end of the original book, is now a middle-aged New Englander whose psychic gift of “shining” provides comfort to the dying patients in a nursing home.
Bonus material on the specially packaged Room 237 Blu-ray and DVD includes:
* “The mstrmnd Speaks: Commentary with Kevin McLeod.” McLeod is a key figure in the online examination of Kubrick’s film.
* “Secrets of The Shining,” an hour-long panel discussion from the first Stanley Film Festival, an event at Colorado’s historic Stanley Hotel, which inspired one-time guest Stephen King to write his novel.
* 11 Deleted Scenes
* The Making of the Music Featurette
* Mondo Poster Design Discussion with Artist Aled Lewis
* Trailers
Scream Factory brought Frank LaLoggia’s 1988 Halloween movie Lady in White to Blu-ray several years back, and now Vinegar Syndrome gives the film a 4K Ultra HD upgrade.
Vinegar Syndrome’s Lady in White 4K release is available now and shipping now!
Watch the trailer below and grab your copy from Vinegar Syndrome today.
This limited edition 4-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray x 3 set comes with a spot gloss hard slipcase + slipcover combo (designed by Dylan Haley), includes a 40-page perfect bound book and is limited to 8,000 units. It is only available on their website and at select indie retailers.
The full Special Features package includes…
- 4-disc Set: 1x 4K Ultra HD (High Bitrate BD100) / 3x Region A Blu-ray
- 4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
- Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
- Presented in three versions: 126-min Pre-Release Director’s Cut (UHD+BD), the 118-min Extended Home Video Cut (BD), and the 113-min Theatrical Cut (BD)
- New group commentary track with writer/director Frank LaLoggia, alongside actors Lukas Haas, Joelle Jacobi, and Len Cariou for the Pre-Release Director’s Cut
- New commentary track with Frank LaLoggia, moderated by Scott Neumyer for the Extended Home Video Cut
- New commentary track with authors Emma Westwood and Stephen A. Russell for the Extended Home Video Cut
- Archival commentary track with Frank LaLoggia for the Extended Home Video Cut
- “Learning How to Fly” (10 min) – an interview with actress Karen Powell
- “A Snapshot in Time” (9 min) – an interview with actress Lisa Taylor
- “Human Touches” (6 min) – an interview with actress Lucy Lee Flippin
- “Still Relevant” (16 min) – an interview with actress Rose Weaver
- “75% Listening, 25% Editing” (9 min) – an interview with editor Steve Mann
- “Welcome to Willowpoint Falls” (6 min) – a location featurette hosted by Benjamin Scrivens, founder of Fright-Rags
- “Dream Talking: Looking Back” – a visual group commentary for the Pre-Release Director’s Cut with Frank LaLoggia, and actors Lukas Haas, Joelle Jacobi, and Len Cariou (103 min)
- Deleted Scenes with introduction and optional commentary by writer/director Frank LaLoggia (36 min)
- Behind-the-scenes footage with introduction and optional commentary by writer/director Frank LaLoggia (16 min)
- Extended behind-the-scenes footage (73 min)
- Introduction from the 20th anniversary dvd release
- Promotional ‘industry sales’ trailer (7 min)
- 40-page perfect bound book with essays by film historians Molly Henery, Mark H. Harris, and Heidi Honeycutt (limited edition only)
- Multiple radio spots
- Theatrical trailer
- Multiple TV spots
- Workprint trailers (7 min)
- Still gallery
- Reversible sleeve artwork
- English SDH subtitles
1962. Nine-year-old Frankie Scarlatti enjoys a homespun childhood in a rustic Western New York town. The entire community gets into the spirit of Halloween, but then two bullies prank Frankie by locking him in his school cloakroom, leaving him trapped for the night. Alone and afraid, his slumber is interrupted when the ghost of a little girl appears, and Frankie witnesses the specter of her murder by an unseen assailant. Later, while recovering at home, the girl’s ghost appears to him again. With help from his older brother, Frankie begins investigating the circumstances of her death. He soon discovers that her murder was one of several unsolved crimes connected to a local child-killer. As the town’s bucolic veneer fades and long-buried secrets and tensions bubble to the surface, all of the clues to the mystery seem to point towards a huge mansion inhabited by a reclusive woman known as “The Lady in White.”
A nostalgia-driven ghost story wrapped within an intricate murder mystery and coming-of-age drama, writer-director-composer Frank LaLoggia’s passion project Lady in White remains one of the most beautiful and original American horror films of the 1980s. Featuring acclaimed actors Alex Rocco (The Godfather), Len Cariou (Executive Decision), and Sydney Lassick (Carrie, The Unseen), it boasts the first starring role by Lukas Haas (Mars Attacks, Inception) as well as breathtaking photography by Academy Award® winner Russell Carpenter (True Lies, The Lawnmower Man). Vinegar Syndrome is honored to bring this genre masterpiece to 4K UHD, newly restored from its original 35mm camera negative and presented in three versions: its pre-release director’s cut, its extended home-video version, and its original theatrical version, along with an abundance of both new and archival extras.
Paul Lê wrote here on Bloody Disgusting back in 2023, “Over the years, fans have described this film as gateway horror, but they liken it more to The Watcher in the Woods than, say, Hocus Pocus or Casper. There are chilling moments that warrant its PG-13 rating.”
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