Release Year: 1980

Genre: Drama, Horror

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Writer: Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson, Stephen King (novel)

Stars: Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall

You've seen Jack Torrance's grinning face on dorm room walls, in murals, and on t-shirts. You've heard the catchphrases so often they're probably etched in your brain: "Heeere's Johnny!" "Come and play with us. Come and play with us, Danny. Forever." "Redrum! Redrum!" You've seen the homages—from the Redrum Burger that graces the streets of a sleepy college town in Northern California to episodes of Key and Peele, Daria, and, of course The Simpsons.

There's cultural influence, and then there's the cultural influence of The Shining.

How did a movie about a psychotic would-be novelist suffering from cabin fever, his long-suffering wife, and his clairvoyant son work its way into the global consciousness in such an insidious manner? A better question would be: how didn't it?

When a movie a) is directed by renowned genius Stanley Kubrick b) is adapted from a novel by Stephen "I Will Give You Nightmares" King c) stars Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall and d) contains such immortal images as a creepy elevator full of blood, creepier identical ghost twins, and creepiest 1970's patterned carpeting… well, that movie is destined for greatness.

The Shining, like cult classics are wont to do, opened to mixed reviews. Perhaps the stuffy tweed bellbottom-wearing film critics of 1980 were disappointed that the infamously cerebral Kubrick had turned his sights towards the "lowbrow" genre of horror. Or maybe the world just wasn't ready to see Jack Nicholson attempt to axe murder his entire family.

But luckily—and rightly—critics and filmgoers changed their tune. Today, The Shining tops "Best Of" lists: Martin Scorsese's list of the "11 Scariest Movies," The Guardian's "5 Best Horror Movies," Time Out's "100 Best Horror Films," and Filmsite's "The Greatest Films In Cinematic History." And that's just scratching the surface.

You owe it to yourself, as a consumer of pop culture and a consumer of "high" culture, as a distinguished critic of the finest film auteurs and as a person who just likes getting intensely freaked out every once in a while, to watch The Shining. Because, let's face it: it's a rare movie that makes everyone—from chain-smoking French cinema buffs to suburban dads that would rather play disc golf than sit through a movie—fall in love with it.

Sadistic Jack Torrance may be a sociopath… but he's maybe the most eminently quotable sociopath of all time.

We're going to go deep with this one—deep into the wild world of (our favorite subject) conspiracy theories.

Disclaimer: there are a bunch of non-conspiracy theory related reasons to watch, study, and love The Shining. We cover a bunch of them above, in "In A Nutshell."

But if you want to know the thing that sets The Shining apart from other beloved Kubrick films, cult classics, or movies that feature Jack Nicholson looking maniacal… well, that's where the conspiracy theories come in.

Maybe it's because The Shining is so weird, or because Kubrick was such an infamous perfectionist, of because other Kubrick movies lend themselves so well to obsessive analysis. Or maybe it's just because The Shining had such an insane cultural influence. Whatever the reason, this film has people scrambling to find hidden meaning.

We're going to give you a sampler platter of our favorite conspiracy theories—theories that are discussed in greater depth in the documentary Room 237, which is all about Shining conspiracy theories. (That's right: there is a movie about conspiracy theories about a movie: metafiction brain explosion.)

Here you go:

Theory 1: The whole movie is an elaborate confession on the part of Kubrick. What's he getting so confessional about? Oh, not much: just that he helped fake the Apollo 11 moon landings.

Theory 2: This movie isn't about a psychotic axe murderer… it's a coded indictment of the genocide of Native Americans.

Theory 3: This movie isn't about a psychotic axe murderer… it's a meditation on the lasting impact of the Holocaust.

Theory 4: The Shining isn't just about ghosts and blood-filled elevators. It's also about the Greek myth of the Minotaur.

Do these sound farfetched? Absurd? Like the ravings of a lunatic? Quite possibly… but it's also a testament to how totally absorbing and thought-provoking The Shining is. It's a movie that is just as good as a one-off Halloween scary movie or as a work of art to be dissected endlessly.

And nothing makes it clear how completely magnetic this movie is than the fact that numerous conspiracy theorists have created elaborate analyses about this film. After all, when you think about it, critical analyses are just conspiracy theories that cite Freud, Lacan, or Foucault (to name a few).

Again: that's the magic of The Shining. It's a movie that seduces everyone from aged professors to tween science buffs… and makes everyone want to understand it.