Doctor Sleep

King's The Shining is quite an interesting long-running phenomenon, now comprising two novels (from 1977 and 2013), both of which have been made into films, the first also as a miniseries, and there's one more TV project to come, apparently called Overlook. So how good is the film version of Doctor Sleep? It’s a decent modern King film, with an excellent McGregor and a declaration of love for the original The Shining. It’s comparable to the new versions of It or Pet Sematary. (31/12/2021)

Doctor Sleep might put you to sleep! Mike Flanagan tries his best, but once again I was not pleased. I find his films terribly uninteresting. This one is a direct sequel to The Shining after 40 years and introduces the main character played by Ewan McGregor (the boy in The Shining) who follows in the footsteps of the True Knot cult who suck the souls out of dead victims. Filmed decently, both Ewan and Rebecca Ferguson, playing the villain, are solid. The music is also good, fans of the first film will be pleased with the many references and the finale is quite intense. But the film is not scary, suspenseful, brutal and certainly not entertaining, I haven't seen such a slow film in the cinema for a long time. I'm personally not a big fan of The Shining either, so this story and mythology doesn't do anything for me and actually doesn't interest me much. I don't want to put it off completely, fans of The Shining will probably enjoy it and IMDB praises it as well, so it's not a dud, more like nothing for me. 55% (01/11/2019)

It’s been long since a sequel made me this happy. Dr. Sleep lacks the author’s vision and unpredictability of Kubrick’s The Shining, but Flanagan builds a meaningful follow-up story that richly develops the possibilities of Kubrick’s secondary themes, smartly blending it with the events of the previous film. This smart director takes other things from the legendary filmmaker: the approach to the protagonist and the narrative style – throughout the film the adult Dan Torrance is an almost surprisingly passive figure under the control of a girl with a strong shining (in a similar way the hotel controlled his father), while the story gradually shrinks, both in time and space, with Flanagan, like Kubrick, using small time lapses to illustrate it. He also manages to imitate the main style characteristics of the previous film, likewise with the music motifs, the reliance on details of the actors during tense moments, the absence of shallow jump-scares, which are replaced by the strategically organised movement of the characters in the mise-en-scène, and the identical staging of some scenes, which both pays homage to and reinforces the narrative connection with the previous film (McGregor’s conversation with Bruce Greenwood in an office looks the same as Jack’s interview with Ullman at the beginning of The Shining; on the stairs, Rebecca Ferguson uses similar gestures as Jack Nicholson; the conversation with the barman, etc.). The long runtime isn’t a problem, either, the film works from the get go with three strongly motivated camps of protagonists (or rather, antagonists) that are slowly being brought together, plus the brilliant return to the iconic hotel, were all the sequences will be gold for the orthodox fans of the original. The Shining told the viewers that the Overlook was the only evil and dangerous place for people who shine, Dr. Sleep expands this into a vast fictional world where Danny gradually assumes the role of his mentor Halloran and his childish self is replaced by a girl who’s going through a similar development (which is highlighted by the film’s very last shot). The very positive impression is completed by a ton of welcome references, the character of the climax and the excellent actors, led by the traditionally likeable and credible McGregor, though the divine Rebecca Ferguson also deserves praise, she’s convinced me again she’s the most charismatic actress of today (and for me, maybe the past, too). If only every sequel of a famous brand was at least half as good as this one. 90% (26/11/2019)

A very different film compared to The Shining. I've heard it sticks closer to the book, though I haven’t read it myself. You can feel the difference right from the atmosphere — while The Shining leans more into psychological horror, Doctor Sleep drifts towards a sort of mysterious fantasy. It makes sense, though, given Stephen King’s style. Once I adjusted to this shift, I really enjoyed watching Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson, especially with the film’s nods to the original classic. Mike Flanagan was the perfect choice to helm this sequel; his respect for The Shining is clear, and the subtle callbacks are a real treat. (27/10/2021)

A difficult to adapt yet incredibly good work by Stephen King. If the screenplay were to strictly follow the structure of the original, half of the running time would be devoted to AA meetings. I therefore understand why Mike Flanagan focused much more on Abra and Rose because their storylines are far more cinematic (albeit not too personal), but poor Danny remains a secondary character. Considering that it necessarily had to follow on the film version of The Shining and less so on the book, the ending is surprisingly strong, more terrifying in terms of its logic, and respectfully faithful to the source material, despite some changes (including the biggest) being frustrating at first. From a story about overcoming one's own shadow, something different has emerged: a horror movie that is not afraid to avoid cheap scares and only uses the atmosphere to pay homage. (15/01/2021)