There’s a pun to be made about the title of this film and the fact it’s quite dull
Doctor Sleep, directed by Mike Flanagan, is the follow up to Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 psychological horror, The Shining; a classic that most would agree did not need a sequel. But hey, it’s 2019 and we got one anyway.
Warning: spoilers ahead
As I sat in the theatre alone on the eve of all things hallow, I patiently waited for the film to begin. With only a handful of other people in the screening room, it was the perfect atmosphere for a film such as this.
Doctor Sleep takes place after the events of The Shining, where a young Danny Torrance (Roger Dale Floyd) and his mother, Wendy Torrance (Alexandra Essoe) have moved to Florida, haunted by the memories of what happened at the Overlook Hotel. We then skip forward to 2011 where the real story begins.
Dan, now played by Ewan McGregor, has fallen onto hard times and decides to make a life change. Throughout this process, viewers are introduced to a number of individuals with ‘special powers’ similar to Dan. This point of the film felt strangely reminiscent of a superhero movie with all the location hopping and the rapid introduction of new powered characters. It felt completely different in tone and atmosphere to The Shining, though perhaps that is to be expected when you have someone like Kubrick on the original.
The new evil in this film comes from a Bohemian group of vampiric humanoids that hunt down and drain the life-source out of those with ‘Shining’ abilities; I couldn’t help but think of Monsters Inc. when it came to them sucking the fear out of children and storing it in canisters for later.
Dan befriends a child called Abra (played by newcomer Kyliegh Curran) with strong ‘Shining’ abilities, and in order to save her from the gang of soul-sucking monsters, Dan becomes her mentor. It all culminates to a battle between our two protagonists and the leader of the gang, Rose the Hat – who wears a hat (Rebecca Ferguson) – within the Overlook Hotel where Dan has to face his demons once more.
I found that the first half of the film seemed to drag with many parts leaving me with little interest in what was happening. There were some interesting Inception-like visuals when it came to characters using their ‘Shining’ abilities, and the storyline of Dan working in a hospital and using his ability to help guide patients coming to the end of their lives was a nice touch which I wish could have been expanded further. But in the end it led nowhere apart from serving the purpose of giving the film its title, Doctor Sleep.
Overall the film felt as though it could have been completely detached from the world of the original The Shining and offered little in terms of psychological horror. The two hours and 31 minutes of runtime felt like a slog and I sense it’s not a film many will be reaching for on future Halloweens in need of a scare, especially when you have a far superior film in the original.
Shine on Danny you crazy diamond.
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