Top 20 Things You Missed in Doctor Sleep

In case you overlooked these details, allow us to shine a light. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Things You Missed in “Doctor Sleep.”

For this list, we’re taking a look at Easter eggs, callbacks and other little touches you might’ve missed in this suspenseful sequel. We will not only be discussing Mike Flanagan’s 2019 adaptation of “Doctor Sleep,” but also Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of “The Shining,” as well as the two Stephen King novels that inspired these movies. So, spoilers on all fronts.

Although “Doctor Sleep” is very much its own story in comparison to “The Shining,” the opening sequence does take us back to 1980 as Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind’s haunting musical score plays over a retro Warner Bros. logo. The screen is then engulfed by a familiar carpet pattern as young Danny Torrance, played in 2019 by Roger Dale Floyd, rides his tricycle through the Overlook Hotel.

In Kubrick’s film, it’s first indicated that Dick Hallorann possesses the Shine when he calls Danny “Doc,” a nickname his parents derived from Bugs Bunny’s catchphrase. Early on in “Doctor Sleep,” Danny and Wendy sit on the couch watching “Rabbit’s Feat,” a cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote. Coincidentally, this cartoon also touches upon daddy issues.

As Crow Daddy follows Snakebite Andi out of a screening of “Casablanca,” a movie poster featuring the character Dandelo is visible in the background. Also known as Joe Collins, Dandelo is a creature from King’s “Dark Tower” series who feeds off people’s emotions, not unlike how members of the True Knot live off “steam.”

Speaking of King’s magnum opus, as Dan makes his way to New Hampshire, he uses a bus company called Tet Transit. It’s possible that this bus operator is a division of the Tet Corporation, which is tasked with protecting the Rose and Stephen King himself in “The Dark Tower” series.

In one of the subtler callbacks, Dr. John Dalton’s office bears a striking resemblance to Stuart Ullman’s in Kubrick’s “Shining.” From the miniature American flag, to the teacups, to the positions of the photos on the walls, these two rooms must’ve had an interior decorator in common.

If you’re familiar with the whole “Shining” moon landing conspiracy theory, you’ll definitely remember Danny’s blue Apollo 11 sweater in the Kubrick movie. Blue seems to be Dan’s go-to color in “Doctor Sleep” and one particular sweater he wears to an AA meeting is the same shade of blue as his childhood sweater.

Oregon’s Timberline Lodge provided exterior shots for the Overlook, although Kubrick was asked by management not to use room 217, fearing that guests wouldn’t want to stay there. Kubrick thus changed it to 237, a room that didn’t exist at the lodge. In “Doctor Sleep,” Dan enters a hospital patient’s room numbered 217, giving a nice nod to King’s original source material.

“Doctor Sleep” notably opens in 1980, the same year that Kubrick’s version of “The Shining” hit theaters. Later, outside of Abra Stone’s house, you may’ve noticed a sign that reads, “1980.” No matter how much time passes, that infamous year remains inescapable. This is just one of the many subtle touches that bridge the gap between King and Kubrick’s work.

Dan is repeatedly visited? Comforted? Guided? …By the ghost of Dick Hallorann, who at one point tells him that, “Ka is a wheel.” Stephen King fans will recognize this quote from “The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands.” In King’s multiverse, Ka is a strange force that guides all creatures. Whether going forward or backwards, Ka is always turning like a wheel.

Although none of the actors from Kubrick’s film reprise their roles here, we do get a sneaky cameo from a grown-up Danny Lloyd, who played the original Danny Torrance. The former child actor can be spotted at a baseball game watching Bradley Trevor, played by Jacob Tremblay, who ironically kind of looks like a young Danny Lloyd.

One member of the True Knot points out that the number on Bradley Trevor’s baseball jersey is 19, a significant number in “The Dark Tower” series and the Stephen King multiverse in general. While 19 pops up too many times to list every example, it’s worth mentioning that the Overlook’s most sinister room in the book is 217. What’s 2 + 17? 19!

When the True Knot is through with Bradley Trevor, they bury his body at a spot owned by LaMerk Industries. In “The Dark Tower” books, LaMerk Industries is a rival of the Tet Corporation. LaMerk is connected to several evil foes, making Bradley just another skeleton in the company’s closet.

Invading Abra’s mind, Rose the Hat gets her hand caught in a file cabinet and practically needs to peel her skin off to break free. This is reminiscent of how our handcuffed heroine escapes in “Gerald’s Game,” another Stephen King adaptation directed by Mike Flanagan. What’s more, “Doctor Sleep” also shares a couple of actors with “Gerald’s Game”: Gerald himself, Bruce Greenwood plays Dr. John Dalton, and Moonlight Man himself Carel Struycken plays Grandpa Flick.

Depending on your interpretation, it’s not precisely clarified if the ghostly bartender in “Doctor Sleep” is Jack or Lloyd, but he definitely resembles Dan’s father. Instead of Jack Nicholson or Joe Turkel, however, the bartender is played here by Henry Thomas, who previously appeared in Flanagan’s adaptations of “Gerald’s Game” and “The Haunting of Hill House.” But of course, he’s best-known for playing Elliott in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”

In “The Shining” novel, Jack’s alcoholic father used to say, “Take your medicine,” a line that Jack would later repeat to his son. While this quote was cut from Kubrick’s film, it resurfaces in “Doctor Sleep” a couple of times; first, when Danny is savagely beating someone during a bar fight, and later when the bartender tries to get Dan to throw his sobriety away.

When Dan returns to the Overlook, it’s pretty much exactly as the Torrance family left it, from the hole Jack axed into the door to his typewriter on the table. Jack actually had multiple typewriters in Kubrick’s film, a blue one and a beige one, but it’s the latter of those that resurfaces here. Do you think Jack’s manuscript is lying around somewhere too?

When Dan faces off with Rose on the Overlook staircase, their positions are almost identical to Wendy and Jack’s during their confrontation in “The Shining.” This time, however, the genders have been swapped and instead of a baseball bat, Dan arms himself with an axe - perhaps passed down from his father?

Thanks to Dick’s suggestion, Dan has been keeping the ghosts at bay in his mind with the help of lockboxes. To finally best Rose the Hat, Dan releases the “starving” ghosts so they can feed on her “steam.” Among the ghastly crowd are the bathroom lady, former Overlook caretaker Delbert Grady, former Overlook owner Horace Derwent and - of course - those creepy twins, who are back to play with Danny forever and ever!

One piece of dialogue lifted from King’s novel “The Shining” is the idea of the “false face.” In “Doctor Sleep,” Abra uses the term towards Uncle Dan after the Overlook has begun using him as a conduit for their evil deeds. While this line wasn’t in Kubrick’s film, there is a moment in King’s book when Danny tells his deranged father, “You’re a mask. Just a false face… You don’t scare me.” Danny’s bravery gives Jack the strength to briefly overcome the Overlook, letting his son escape - and the same happens between Abra and adult Dan.

In the film’s climax, Dan sacrifices himself by allowing the boiler room to go haywire and burn down the Overlook. Although this differs from the ending of the “Doctor Sleep” book, it does resemble King’s original ending to “The Shining” where Jack is killed in a boiler room explosion. Jack’s fate was altered in Kubrick’s film, but this sequel brings things full circle.