Doctor Sleep (The Shining Sequel Film) - November 8th, 2019

That's the part that was confusing to me when Danny calls the bartender at the Overlook Hotel Lloyd but the actor appeared to be Henry Thomas acting like Jack Nicholson's character from the original Shining. But what's even more confusing is IMDB has Jack Torrance ghost listed by two actors...Henry Thomas (of ET fame) and Thomas Downing...

Doctor Sleep (2019) - Cast - IMDb

I don't blame folks being confused by this and I'm convinced recurring these characters was unnecessary. Just show the original clips from the Shining if that helps move the plot along.

 

Jack now being the bartender was supposed to mirror how the ghost of Grady, the caretaker who had gone crazy and murdered his daughters, was seen as a waiter in the original movie.

 

Yeah, I was thinking along similar lines watching in the theater. But why was Danny calling the ghost of Jack Torrance, now the bartender, Lloyd, the name of the original Shining bartender played by Joe Turkel, Blade Runner's Tyrell)?

No wonder it's confusing.

 

He was playing along at first, before confronting his father directly.

I don't remember how Danny knows the bartender is supposed to be called Lloyd -- does Jack introduce himself that way? But, it's a ghost story, it's not supposed to be logical -- in The Shining Jack just starts talking to Lloyd as if he's spoken to him many times before.

 

No, Jack doesn't introduce himself that way to Danny. Again, you just reminded me of another confusing aspect I hadn't considered. Where did Danny get the name Lloyd since he was a kid back then.

Now I'm going to have to watch it again to make sure I'm not having memory issues with this.

 

I think it was important to establish that again as a chance to reject that part of his father. He actually didn’t call him Lloyd. He said that the bartender was his father. The bartender stated that he was Lloyd. The role was played by Henry Thomas not sure if the other actor might have been used for seething else.

As I recall, he didn’t call him Lloyd but recognized him as his dad right away. He did play along at first but made it clear he knew that Lloyd was his father. “Lloyd” then introduces himself as “Lloyd” telling him he knows who he is.

 

Yep. That is how that scene played out.

 

Yeah that’s what one of those suspension of disbelief moments unless the hedge represents how Danny remembers it since it is, after all, in the mind as I recall.

 

Yeah, clear as mud. How could I have missed that?

I can't tell if you're re-imagining or misinterpreting that scene just because as I said before it's an unnecessary scene and only distracts and creates confusion because it's not made clear what's a dream or what's a ghost.

And I heard Danny call him Lloyd when he pulled up to the bar BEFORE they showed it was Henry Thomas as Jack, his father.

But the real point that's being missed here is how did Danny know about Lloyd since he didn't see Lloyd as a kid in the original Shining?

 

Well he does shine after all. It was pretty clear to me that it was the overlook just as it was in the original film. There was nothing indicating it was a dream (Usually a film director will use some sort of change in the look or feel of a scene to imply something like that they don’t).

Im not reimagining the scene nor am misinterpreting, perhaps you are?

If he did call him Lloyd first (which is certainly possible) he made it clear that he relized he was ‘his dad’.

Either way, the scene clearly was not a dream but it was the Overlook waking up and trying to mess with Danny. It was, again, an example of the Overlook communicating with him via his ability to Shine.

 

'Doctor Sleep' features one whopper of a 'Shining' return (spoilers!)

‘Before the climactic showdown, Dan revisits the places where Jack murderously chased him with an axe, and in the film’s most riveting scene – especially for King fans and “Shining” nuts – Dan enters the hotel’s Gold Room and sits at the bar, where he realizes a familiar face is serving him a drink: his dad (played by Henry Thomas), now a permanent fixture as a ghost at the Overlook.

“It was a profoundly cool opportunity for Dan to have this conversation not only with his father but with his own addiction,” “Doctor Sleep” writer/director Mike Flanagan says. “That was the scene that made me want to make the film.”

Lloyd the bartender, the stoic guy Jack vents to about his family as he falls off the wagon (and into a glass of Jack Daniels) during his descent into madness.

But in the “Doctor Sleep” version of the scene, Dan refuses the drink and poignantly chronicles his life and troubles since that childhood trauma as bartender Jack listens, unemotionally for the most part.

“Kubrick had shown us the way,” Flanagan explains. “That is kind of the fate that befalls some of these ghosts at the Overlook: They just become part of the staff (and) deny any memory of who they were in life. I found that to be chilling.”

McGregor was surprised by just how emotional the scene became. “(Dan) suffered from his dad's violence, his dad's alcoholism, and here he is given a chance to try and get him to apologize,” the actor says. “Ultimately, what's at the heart of it is he wants to be loved by his father. And he has this opportunity in that moment for his father to say, ‘I’m sorry, I love you.’ I thought it was going to be more angry in a way, and then we started playing it and it just became incredibly moving.”

By the way, I came to this conclusion before reading this. article. I just googled “Danny’ and “Lloyd the bartender” and “his father’

 

That's quite a lot to expect and ask from a ghost in denial whose drinking problem caused him to attempt to murder both Danny and his mother and successfully murder the cook decades ago. But in the original Shining I understood Jack's return to drinking which led to his violent behavior wasn't caused by him but by the evil spirits or psychic energy from all those hungry ghosts. I'm not seeing all this reminiscing as a Hallmark card poignant moment to make wrongs into right. It's kinda' out of place with what's happened previously.

When did grown up Danny as well as when he was a child at the Overlook ever hear of the name of Lloyd the bartender?

 

Well, I finally decided I should go out and see this, and apparently “Dr. sleep” was out of the theater faster than Mormons at a porno.

 

It's better that you see it on Blu ray or on a streaming service, anyway. It's a dialog/story driven movie. For me seeing it on a big screen didn't add to its impact or entertainment value.

 

i don't think it did real well.

 

No, it didn't, but it should still be at most multiplexes - any place with 12+ screens, I'd think.

Though it probably lost a lot this weekend since "Frozen 2" is gonna scarf down a ton!

 

It's still showing at my multiplex 12 screen theater but this theater runs short movies of boxing matches and Christian themed movies and other unknown and unadvertised political based POV documentaries. I guess from the lack of attendance during the weekdays they're having to diversify to keep the doors open.

 

"Lloyd" is just the name of every bartender.

If Danny was next to go insane and then die,
then he would be the next "Lloyd" ghost.

"Lloyd" is everybody's bartender/father/destiny.

 

Does the book explain the significance of the villain's hat? In the movie, it was just a wardrobe accessory to help make the character seem a bit more obnoxious.

 

That was not communicated in both the Shining and Doctor Sleep movies. If it was mentioned in the books, I missed it because I didn't read the books.

 

In the book it remains on her head as an impossible angle, which is evidence of Rose's arrogance in constantly showing off her powers by keeping it up.

 

I went last weekend on Sunday afternoon with my wife and daughter. It was in a theater complex with 6 theaters. They had it in a smaller theater that had a 60 max capacity. There were 3 other people in the theater with us.

 

'doctor sleep' was about 30 years too late.

 

Went out of my way to catch this at a theater. Why? It turns out, "Dr Sleep" was aptly named: I almost fell asleep 3 times. I liked seeing Jack Torrance and Wendy recreated, much better than if they were some CGI waxworks I enjoyed watching the actors portray them, but as far as the film why didn' anyone tell me it hinged on the exact same plot device as "Monsters Inc?". Canned Scream steam, Where have I seen that before?

 

That's what my son said when he read the novel.