7 Obvious References to The Shining on American Horror Story: Hotel

It's true that the entirety of The Overlook is a living, breathing monster in The Shining. There are ghosts and nightmares around every corner. But any fan will know that Room 237 is a hot spot for the building. There's something really evil lurking behind that door.

Hotel has its own Room 237, except in this case, it's Room 64. Not only is it the former office of deranged, murderous lunatic Mr. March, but it also seems to be the home of the Addiction Demon — you know, that fleshy thing with the drillbit dildo. And we haven't even gotten to the rotting corpses in the shower, but we'll save them for later.

The classic Lloyd bartender scene marks a real turning point in The Shining. It signifies the moment Jack really goes off the deep end. He loses his sobriety (in spite of the hotel's utter lack of alcohol), he has a long conversation with a ghost, and he begins to breed a real hate for his family. That bright, unique lighting is hard to forget.

While this scene in the second episode of Hotel isn't quite as crucial as The Shining's Lloyd scene, you have to admit the lighting is eerily similar. Plus, there's a noted heaviness in the scene's subtext, and we're pretty sure Hypodermic Sally is dead, just like Lloyd the barkeep.

The twins are one of the most chilling aspects of The Overlook Hotel. They're lurking around any corner, constantly willing Danny to come and play with them. It doesn't help that we see more than a few flashes of their grisly demise, either.

While there haven't been any identical twins in Hotel Cortez (yet), the young, ultrablond "offspring" of The Countess may as well be. Take this example from the first episode: the boys are both young, blond, and dressed exactly the same. And they're lurking around the corner of any given hallway.

One of Kubrick's trademarks is the beautiful symmetry and center composition. It's an eye-catching way to subvert the "rule of thirds," and really captivates the audience. You can see it with the twins in the previous image, and in huge shots like this, it's very present as well.

The Hotel Cortez has its own beautiful kind of symmetry. Grand composition shots of the hotel, like this one, really bring to mind the same kind of artistry. There are other components of the hotel that are quite symmetrical as well — think The Countess's quarters and the dual-sofa playroom all the children inhabit.

Let's bring it back to the twins, because we haven't gotten creeped out enough by them yet. One of the more entrancing sequences in The Shining is any time Danny rides around The Overlook on his tricycle. The camera follows the little guy closely, taking tight turns around corners with him. This builds tension and adds weight to reveals like this, where the twins are waiting for him down the next hallway.

You can see the same sort of shot techniques on Hotel, too. This GIF is just one example, but we also see it happen when John Lowe chases his lost son through the hotel, and when Liz Taylor first leads him to Room 64.

The bright, glaring patterned carpet is one of the staples of Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, often drawing focus whenever Danny is alone in various parts of The Overlook Hotel.

During the season premiere of Hotel, we couldn't help but notice the uncanny resemblance to the hotel carpeting from The Shining.

And now, we go inside Room 237. As you might know, Jack Torrance investigates to see what all the fuss is about, and encounters a beautiful woman taking a bath. However, she quickly turns into a fishy, rotting corpse that chases him out of the room while trying to strangle him.

AHS: Hotel had not one, but two rotting zombie corpses! In the first few scenes of the second episode, John Lowe goes to wash his face and finds these two canoodling in the bathtub. Much like the woman in The Shining, they beckon him to join them in the depths.