You know that Doctor Sleep and The Shining are connected…but how?
Well, you don't need psychic abilities to figure that one out: Today we're explaining
the many connections between the two films, including returning characters and returning
themes.
In The Shining, Stephen King introduced us to Danny Torrance, a deeply strange little
boy who has the ability to see ghosts and communicate telepathically.
"How'd you like some ice cream, Doc?"
After Danny and his parents move into The Overlook Hotel for the winter, a host of ghosts
start slowly or not so slowly driving his father mad.
They also take a significant toll on Danny.
"Redrum, redrum."
Danny and his mother ultimately manage to escape the mayhem, but the haunted hotel costs
Jack Torrance his life.
Most of Doctor Sleep focuses on Danny as an adult.
He now calls himself just Dan, and he finds that as he gets older, his mysterious "shining"
ability is often too much to bear.
Like his father before him, he descends into alcoholism as a way to numb his gift... but
the ghosts of the past still manage to catch up with him.
In The Shining, The Overlook Hotel might as well be a character both in the novel and
in the film version.
This formidable fortress is horrifically alive with ghosts.
Thanks to the malevolent powers lurking within, The Overlook Hotel manages to claim Danny's
father, Jack Torrance…and it very nearly claims Danny and his mom Wendy.
In King's original novel, The Overlook Hotel is destroyed when its faulty boiler explodes.
Meanwhile, in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of The Shining, the hotel is left standing.
In King's novel Doctor Sleep, the site of the burned-down Overlook plays an important
role, but in the film adaptation, the structure is still there, exactly as it was left in
the original film.
"They closed it down, and let it rot."
At the end of The Shining, Danny and Wendy Torrance leave The Overlook behind … but
that doesn't mean the hotel's ghostly residents have left them behind.
"Come play with us."
In the novel Doctor Sleep, we learn that ghosts continue to torment Danny after his ill-fated
stay at The Overlook.
In fact, they follow him and his mother Wendy to their new apartment, where Danny becomes
so afraid, he refuses to go into the bathroom.
And which ghosts are haunting him?
Well, the dead woman in the bathtub, for one…the same creep who attacked Danny and terrified
Jack in The Shining.
In fact, she's such a powerful presence, her decomposing corpse leaves behind physical
residue in the bathroom of Danny and Wendy's apartment.
Though she's the most terrifying and persistent ghost to return from the Overlook, she's not
the only spirit that follows poor Danny.
"Come play with us.
Forever and ever…"
The Torrance family wasn't entirely alone in their fight against The Overlook Hotel's
supernatural forces.
Early on in the story, Danny is befriended by the Overlook's cook, Dick Hallorann, who
reveals to Danny that they both have telepathic abilities.
Actually, he kind of brags about it.
"My grandmother and I could hold conversations entirely without ever opening our mouths."
But King's book and Kubrick's movie go in two very different directions.
Dick winds up brutally killed in the movie, but he survives in the novel.
In fact, he remains friends with Wendy and Danny Torrance after they manage to escape
the hotel.
Dick also pops up in Doctor Sleep both in the novel and in the movie.
The character played by the late Scatman Crothers in The Shining is now played by Carl Lumbly.
When Danny has difficulty shaking off the ghosts of the Overlook, Dick pays him a visit
and helps him to compartmentalize his trauma.
Even after Dick dies, he isn't entirely gone from Dan Torrance's life.
That's the shining for you.
Without question, the bond that forms between Danny Torrance and Dick Hallorann is one of
the most important relationships in The Shining.
In fact, their psychic connection is so strong, it allows Danny to telepathically contact
Dick from halfway across the country.
In Doctor Sleep, Dan develops a new psychic connection with a young girl named Abra Stone.
Abra's shining begins to manifest when she's only a baby, and it's so strong, she manages
to establish a connection with Dan by accident.
It's Abra, not Dan, who first discovers the dark forces at work in Doctor Sleep, and the
two psychics realize they must ultimately work together to defeat some truly nasty characters.
"You're magic.
Like me."
"I always called it the Shining."
The Overlook is essentially the central villain in The Shining.
The hotel's supernatural powers prey on the Torrance family, threatening to drive them
insane... or worse.
But in Doctor Sleep, the main villains are a group of psychic vampires called The True
Knot.
Who are these jerks?
Well...they're a forceful group of immoral nomads who prolong their lives by feeding
off the essence of people who can shine.
They're led by a devious figure known as Rose the Hat, who chooses the Knot's victims and
finds new members to initiate.
"You are a special little thing, aren't you?"
When The True Knot become aware of Abra, they hatch a plan to track her down and consume
all of her psychic gifts.
In the novel Doctor Sleep, we learn that The True Knot has a rather strange connection
to The Overlook Hotel.
As Stephen King writes in Doctor Sleep,
"The True’s towns, with colorful names like Dry Bend, Jerusalem’s Lot, Oree, and Sidewinder,
were safe havens, but they never stayed in those places for long; mostly they were migratory."
So what's the connection, exactly?
Well, in the first chapter of King's novel The Shining, we learn that
"The Overlook was built in the years 1907 to 1909.
The closest town is Sidewinder, forty miles east."
This means The True Knot is inextricably tied to the haunted hotel that changed Dan Torrance's
life forever.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about your favorite horror movies are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.