New 'Doctor Sleep' posters pile on the Kubrick love with 'The Shining' recreations

The latest pair of posters for Mike Flanagan’s horror sequel Doctor Sleep pay homage to iconic moments from its predecessor — Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic The Shining.

One of the new posters for Flanagan’s film is an explicit reference both to Saul Bass’ memorable design for the Kubrick film, and to the famous “Here’s Johnny” scene, in which Jack Nicholson put his head through a hole in a door after smashing through it with an axe.

Ewan McGregor stars in the film as Danny Torrance — son of Nicholson’s character in the original — who finds his extrasensory gift reignited when he meets a young girl who shares his ‘shining’ ability.

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The girl is a target of the True Knot cult, which is led by Rebecca Ferguson’s Rose the Hat and feeds on children with psychic powers.

Doctor Sleep is adapted from Stephen King’s 2013 novel of the same name, published more than 30 years after the original hit bookshelves.

King was famously not a fan of the Kubrick version of his original story, which altered several major elements, so it’s intriguing to see the new film deal so heavily in that film’s iconography.

In addition to the yellow poster, which directly references Bass, there is also a red-hued one sheet that includes an image of the older Danny looking directly at his younger self riding the tricycle from the Kubrick movie.

Both images refer to Doctor Sleep as “the next chapter in The Shining story”, which rather ominously suggests that there might be more to come from this new franchise.

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Even Danny Lloyd, who played the original film’s Danny, was surprised to see Flanagan dealing so heavily in Kubrick references in the movie’s trailer.

Doctor Sleep is arriving in UK cinemas on 31 October, preparing to provide a memorable Halloween fright night. US audiences will have to wait an extra week, until 8 November.