Way before “The Dark Tower” hit theaters, Hollywood had adapted a huge number of stories by author Stephen King, the latest of which is filled with hidden Easter Eggs and callbacks to his other works. Here are all of the secret references to King, and what they mean. Warning: Light spoilers for “The Dark Tower” within!
“The Shining”
The opening scene of “The Dark Tower” shows an idyllic-seeming neighborhood full of kids, including a pair of twin girls in blue dresses. They look like the Grady twins, the two ghostly girls from “The Shining” who want Danny Torrance to play with them forever and ever and ever.
“The Shining” again
Parked on the desk of Jake’s therapist is a black-and-white photo of a particular hotel: the Overlook, the setting for King’s novel “The Shining.” That’s where Jack Torrance goes mad thanks to the influence of the evil, supernatural structure and tries to kill his son Danny and wife Wendy.
“Cujo”
Walking by as Jake heads home is a big St. Bernard dog, which serves as villain in “Cujo.” In that story, the dog contracts rabies and terrorizes a town, turning from a lovable pet to a frightening, lethal creature.
“Christine”
Stephen King has quite a few stories in which vehicles come to life and murder people, and “Christine” is probably the best known. The red 1958 Plymouth Fury is represented in “The Dark Tower” as a model Jake’s friend Timmy plays with early in the movie. In “Christine,” a supernaturally alive car gets jealous of anyone who gets close to its owner and turns homicidal.
“Stand By Me”
When Jake finds the house he saw in his dream in Brooklyn, it’s adorned with a threatening sign warning of an attack dog. The sign calls back everyone’s favorite scary junkyard dog, Chopper, from “Stand By Me.”
“Stephen King’s It”
Wandering through the woods of Midworld, Jake and Roland come across the ruins of an old theme park, suggesting some weird things about the world’s past. The title for one of the wrecked rides is Pennywise, the scary, shapeshifting clown from “It” that murders folks in the town of Derry.
“1408”
Reaching various locations using sci-fi portals in “The Dark Tower” requires putting in pairs of numbers that serve as addresses for where the portal will take you. When Jake and Roland use the portal in the village to return to New York, Jake notes the return address above it: 14-08. That’s the number of a haunted hotel room from the King story of the same name, where a writer who debunks hauntings finds himself trapped in a possessed hotel room.
“Mr. Mercedes”
About midway through “The Dark Tower,” the villainous Walter leaves a message for Jake written on a wall, with an extra embellishment: A smiley face. It’s a bit of a stretch, but the other place King has made ample use of villainous smiley faces is in his novel “Mr. Mercedes,” where the serial killer of the same name uses a smiley face with teeth and sunglasses to taunt the detective trying to catch him.
“The Shawshank Redemption”
When Roland briefly gets trapped in the gun store so that Walter’s goons can abduct Jake, he passes (and touches) a black and white poster of a photo of Rita Hayworth. The same poster was used by Andy Dufresne to cover the tunnel he dug to escape Shawshank prison in “The Shawshank Redemption.”
“Misery”
Hanging out on one of the consoles where Walter’s minions control the big laser he’s using to attack the Dark Tower is a copy of “Misery’s Child.” It’s the book Annie Wilkes tries to force author Paul Sheldon to write to resurrect his beloved character Misery Chastain in “Misery.”
“Salem’s Lot”
Near the end of the movie, as Jake and Roland leave the Dixie Pig in New York, they pass a sign for a business called Barlow & Straker’s. The business partners appear in “Salem’s Lot” as antiques dealers, but with a twist: Barlow is actually a vampire, and Straker is the human who protects him during daylight hours.
“Doctor Sleep”
“The Dark Tower” makes use of a concept that pops up again and again in other Stephen King novels: the psychic ability he refers to as “shine” or “shining.” That ability is what is at the core of “The Shining” and its sequel “Doctor Sleep,” both of which are about the original kid with the shining, Danny Torrance.
