Leon Vitali, former assistant to Stanley Kubrick, dismissed the theories in this film as "gibberish," saying they are entirely without merit.
Stephen King - never a fan of Kubrick's film adaptation of his novel "The Shining" - started watching this documentary only to give up halfway through as he felt that the filmmakers were reaching for things that simply weren't there.
Director Rodney Ascher has gone on record saying that he does not personally believe many of the theories espoused by narrators in this film. In an interview with Complex magazine, he said, "my personal take on it is, for one, I don't think it's nearly as visionary as any one of these folks have found. I just see it as sort of a story about juggling the responsibilities of your career and family and as cautionary tale of what may happen if you make the wrong choice. And even maybe looking at the ghosts as these figures that represent fortune or prestige or things that you might be chasing at the expense of paying proper attention to your family."
The Kubrick family had absolutely nothing to do with the making of this film.
The film posits 9 different theories about the meaning of Stanley Kubrick's classic horror The Shining (1980).