"Doctor Sleep" is a Terrible Title (But the Movie's Pretty Swell)

So, a cinematic sequel to "The Shining" isn't as unthinkable as it once was, since Stephen King actually went and wrote a sequel to "The Shining" novel a few years back. Still, I was extremely reluctant to see the film version, since I was sure the whole thing would just be mining nostalgia from Kubrick's imagery for the whole running time. And I'm happy to say that "Doctor Sleep" doesn't do that. In fact, the first two acts of the film - really all but the last thirty minutes - stand perfectly well on their own as a creepy supernatural thriller without "The Shining" at all.

Danny Torrance (Ewan MacGregor) has grown up. A recovering alcoholic, working as a hospice orderly in New Hampshire, he's still pursued by the ghosts from the Overlook Hotel, but has some support from his friend and sobriety sponsor Billy (Cliff Curtis) and occasional visits from the spirit of Dick Halloran (Carl Lumbly). He's also become quasi-pen-pals with a little girl named Abra (Kyliegh Curran), who has the same "Shining" psychic powers that Danny has. Unfortunately, Abra attracts the attention of Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson), the leader of a powerful group of vampire-like creatures, the True Knot, who feed off the psychic energies of children with the Shining. She and other True Knot members like Crow Daddy (Zahn McClarnon) and Snakebite Andi (Emily Alyn Lind) have an array of their own powers, which they use to capture and torture their victims. They're intent on finding and feeding off Abra next.

Mike Flanagan, most recently of the "Haunting of Hill House" series, wrote and directed the film. It's mostly a direct adaptation of the "Doctor Sleep" novel. However, when it treads into more familiar territory, it does an admirable job of balancing elements from the film and novel versions of "The Shining," which diverge in many important respects. It's important to keep in mind that "Doctor Sleep" is a very different kind of story and film than "The Shining." It's a far more sprawling, episodic thing taking place over many years, following different strands of the story separately. We watch Danny hit rock bottom and work toward recovery before Abra really comes into the picture. We see how the True Knot operates, gathering victims and new members while constantly on the move. However, when all the pieces come together, the results are fantastic.

I haven't been this properly creeped out by a Stephen King movie in far too long. I love everything about the True Knot, their gypsy-like existence, the glowing eyes, the manifestations of their power, and their absolutely monstrous treatment of their victims. Easily the most upsetting sequence in the film is their attack on a boy played by Jacob Tremblay, which I'm only spoiling because I feel it needs the strongest trigger warnings I can possibly give. Also, kudos for Flanagan putting Rebecca Ferguson in a role where she finally gets to do something substantial. She makes for a very intimidating villain, and totally sells the psychic battles and her relationships to other Knot members.

By contrast, Danny and Abra are weaker in construction. Abra in particular is a little too overpowered and invulnerable, though the young actress is very strong. I really enjoy the way that the film shows psychic powers like astral projection and telepathy, and Abra is at the center of a lot of these sequences. Ewan MacGregor's Danny is very sympathetic, but in a fairly passive role for most of the movie, quietly struggling against his past traumas. It's not until we get to the Overlook Hotel that he really gets to confront his demons. And frankly, that section of the movie is the dodgiest part of the whole project.

I appreciate that Flanagan decided to recast famous roles instead of using digital doubles or digital manipulation. However, the final thirty minutes of "Doctor Sleep" are exactly what I was worried the whole movie was going to be - a Kubrick homage that takes way too many of its visual, aural, and tonal cues directly from the 1982 film. The preceding two hours of the film at least ensure that there are proper stakes and narrative weight to the final showdown, but I found so much of the Overlook sequences needlessly indulgent in the worst way. I love Kubrick's "The Shining" as much as anyone, but I got very little out of the recreations and references, and felt the story ultimately suffered.

Let's be honest though. Danny Torrance returning to the Overlook Hotel is what audiences are paying to see, and the movie would not have been made if he simply fought the True Knot back in New Hampshire. And Flanagan staged and executed the Overlook sequences about as well as I think anyone could have. So, I'm willing to take the bad with the good. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two hours of "Doctor Sleep," and it was worth rolling my eyes at the exasperating finale to see them.

And I'm all for Mike Flanagan adapting more Stephen King - preferably something no one else has adapted yet.

---