Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, Doctor Sleep is a sequel to The Shining and will follow Danny Torrance, now a doctor in his adult life, working with a seemingly troubled child. She's revealed to also have access to the Shining, which she describes as a magical power. The way the scene is shot seems to draw inspiration from the original film, where a young Danny spoke to Dick Hallorann about their shared connection to the "Shining."
At other points, however, the producers of Doctor Sleep felt recreated shots from the original movie. In some cases, the shots are reimagined and tweaked to reflect the film. In others, the iconic shots are recreated with an uncanny attention to detail. Here are all the references to the Shining in the trailer for Doctor Sleep.
REDRUM
Uttered by Danny as he was in a sort of trance, "redrum" seemed to just be the gibberish of a disturbed child. However, one of the most memorable moments from The Shining came when the word was reflected in a mirror, forcing Wendy Torrance to realize it was actually "murder" written in reverse. She figured this out just in time to save Danny from her husband, who'd been fully corrupted by the Overlook Hotel.
The new trailer actually inverts the reveal. Danny is shown writing on his wall, adding pleasant greetings in chalk. But one morning, he's woken up by a loud bang against the wall. Looking into his mirror, he sees the new word written on the wall. The reflection makes it read "redrum," inverting the original film's reveal.
The Hall
Doctor Sleep replicates many scenes from the original Shining, and even potentially expanding on them from Danny's perspective. This includes a new look at the scene where Danny rides around the halls of the hotel on his big wheel. The scene is framed exactly like it was in Stanley Kubrick's original. However, the lighting and general sleekness of the shot betrays the fact that it's not from the original film.
In the trailer, Danny appears to peek into Room 237, where he sees a figure in the bathtub. In the original Shining, Danny did venture into the room, but largely off-screen. It was his father, Jack, who investigated the room further. The shot of the woman in the bathtub comes directly from that later sequence. The woman in the room injured Danny's arm in the original. The extra focus on the moment suggests we may get an expansion on that moment in Doctor Sleep, and get to see Danny actually confront one of the specters in the hotel. The trailer also features a reference to the second hallway scene, where Danny runs into the ghosts of two little girls murdered in the hotel.
The Elevator
The vision of the Overlook elevators opening and unleashing a wave of blood into a hallway is one of the biggest visual moments in the original film and one of the most iconic moments in horror. For a film that focuses so heavily on subtlety to frighten the audience, it's a surprising and grisly moment.
It's so iconic, in fact, that director Mike Flanagan chose not to even attempt at replicating the shot. Instead, he reused the original footage of the elevator unleashing the blood. If anything, the shot has been digitally touched up so it wouldn't stand out from the rest of the film.
The Door
Jack Torrance bashing in the door to a restroom to try and murder his family is another of The Shining's most referenced iconic moments. In a famous moment of improvisation, Jack screams, "Here's Johnny!" This even caught the famously meticulous Kubrick off-guard. After learning the reference was to Ed McMahon's catchphrase on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, he agreed to let the scene stay in the final cut of the film.
Doctor Strange appears to eventually send Danny back to the ruins of the Overlook Hotel. The building is far more decrepit, but still standing. While exploring the building, Danny discovers the room his family had stayed in when they visited the hotel years ago. He even finds the door he wrote "REDRUM" on, still missing the pieces Jack chopped down with his ax. He looks through the door, much as Jack did decades ago. Doctor Sleep honors The Shining as much as possible, but will it be able to escape that beloved classic's shadow?
Doctor Sleep, which centers on the adult Danny Torrence years after the traumatic events at the Overlook Hotel, stars Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Carl Lumbly, Alex Essoe and Zahn McClarnon. It's scheduled for release on November 8.