Genre: Thriller/ Horror/ Drama
Runtime: 151 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis, Carel Struyken, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas, Jacob Tremblay
Description: Years following the events of “The Shining”, a now-adult Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) must protect a young girl with similar powers from a cult known as The True Knot, who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.
Review: It’s not a secret that author Stephen King wasn’t happy with Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of “The Shining”. In 2013 King released the sequel to his novel, called “Doctor Sleep”, where the story focuses on son Danny. What happened to Danny after the traumatic events in the Overlook Hotel and how is he dealing with his gift?
After everything that happened in the Overlook Hotel, Danny and his mother have picked up their lives. When Danny is twenty, his mother passes away and he starts wandering through the US. Like his father, Danny can’t stay away from alcohol. He eventually ends up in a small town in New Hampshire, where he starts working as a hospice. His visions and his gift he tries to put away as far as possible.
As appears, Danny is not the only one with ‘the shining’, as this gift is called. There is a group, led by the mysterious and charismatic Rose the Hat, that live off the powers of those with the gift. When a young boy disappears by the hands of this group, young girl Abra seeks contact with Danny. She also has the gift and together they will try to stop Rose and her macabre group.
The title, “Doctor Sleep”, refers to Danny’s ability to console dying patients. And the film is not a series of repeats from the first film. Stephen King presented a bigger universe, where Danny’s gift is still unique but he is obviously not the only one anymore. “The Shining” had an oppressive feel because of the setting. And even though this film has a bigger setting, it still gives you this feeling at times.
Ewan McGregor is really strong in this film, but it’s Rebecca Ferguson as a very convincing villain and the young Kyliegh Curran that steal the show.
If you saw the trailer, you would think that “Doctor Sleep” is pure fan-service, since you can see young Danny on his tricycle, the scary maze, the twins, the door that Jack broke with the axe and the sea of blood in the hallway, they are all present. As fans of “The Shining” it’s one big feast. But in the film it’s only short and dosed, purely for visual reference and all very functional.
Flanagan definitely learned from Kubrick, but he didn’t copy his predecessor. And this is fantastic, because “Doctor Sleep” is its own film without leaning on the success of “The Shining”. Especially the camera work is spectacular and daring and shows how techniques have been perfected over the years.
Also a tiny detail that made me happy is the fact that they kept the book title and didn’t call it The Shining 2 or whatever, to lure more people to the cinema. Since the title doesn’t shout out it is a sequel.
Directing a film that’s a sequel to one of cinema’s most iconic horror film is a big task and it could have gone wrong. But “Doctor Sleep” is a fantastic film, has psychological complexity and gets under your skin. I loved it!
Rating: 4 / 5
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