Doctor SleepFear haunts us. It drives us to escape--to drink, to running away, to tears. But worst of all, fear drives away the light that makes us each unique and special, what makes us shine. This is what happened to an older Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor), survivor of the darkness that consumed his father many years before at the Overlook Hotel, as seen in The Shining. Dan's path to recovery intersects with a gifted young girl named Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran), who similarly possesses seemingly magical talents like Dan. But where there is light, shadows dwell. A pack of nomadic, nigh-immortal predators that feed off of fear--called the True Knot--led by the enigmatic Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson), are always nipping at the heels of goodness like jackals, and threaten the shining that glows within Dan, Abra, and all like them.
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Doctor Sleep is a horror film and sequel to The Shining, both of which are adapted from novels by Stephen King. Written and directed by Mike Flanagan, Doctor Sleep principally builds off of the aesthetic of Stanley Kubrick's film, and explores the great cost that trauma has on children like Dan. The film opens in the same year in which The Shining was set: 1980. Rose and her gang of vampiric killers ambush a young girl named Violet (Violet McGraw), who is on vacation with her family in Florida, setting upon her like the ghouls that they are. This is followed by a cutaway to young Danny Torrance (Roger Dale Floyd) awakening from a nightmare and seeing one of the iconic ghosts from the Overlook haunting his bathroom. He and his mother, Wendy (Alex Essoe), have since relocated to Florida; Dan later tells Abra that it was because they "never wanted to see snow again" after what happened that fateful winter in Colorado. Danny struggles to quash the "shining" within him, since it all but makes him a magnet for supernatural horror. He once again finds support from the spirit of Dick Halloran (Carl Lumbly), who instructs him on how to trap the phantasms within the recesses of his mind so that they cannot harm him. But as time passes, it becomes evident that there is only so much that Dick can do for Danny. More than thirty years pass, and Dan has fallen into the same trap of alcoholism and self-destruction as his father did. With his life hitting rock bottom, he catches a bus to a small town in New Hampshire, and is offered a helping hand by a recovering alcoholic named Bill (Cliff Curtis) to get his life back on track. Bill sponsors him, and this leads to employment at a hospice, courtesy of a fellow AA member, Dr. John Dalton (Bruce Greenwood). Dan finds stability in his new life, and comes to terms with his unique gift as he comforts the dying in their final moments. Conversely, Rose and her coven of murderous gypsies are the antithesis to this benevolent renewal. The "True Knot" includes a mismatched clan that is a caricature of family, with larger than life characters including the stoic lover of Rose, Crow Daddy (Zahn McClarnon), and the gaunt Grandpa Flick (Carel Struycken). They seek to terrorize the gifted young and feast on the "steam" that emerges from their mouths as they are tortured to death. An exception to this comes in the form of "Snakebite" Andi (Emily Alyn Lind), a gifted "pusher" of fifteen years who baits pedophiles and marks them as though they were bitten by a rattlesnake. Andi achieves her twisted form of justice by compelling men to doing what she says; that she has no scruples in her method makes her an appetizing addition to Rose's arsenal. After indoctrinating Andi, Rose and the rest travel around in a convoy of RVs, tracking the ever-diminishing supply of talented youth to feed upon. When Abra bears psychic witness to one of their abominable feasts, she inadvertently catches the eye of Rose, who makes a point to hunt down the being that radiates such a colossal supply of "steam"--something that the True Knot can feed upon like they did in ages past.
When I was in college, I spent a quarter (they were on quarters back then at The Ohio State University) taking a class on the films of Stanley Kubrick. For one assignment, I wrote on the use of music in The Shining, and over a period of about four days, I watched the movie seven times. In that span, I came to love the film, but also came to appreciate how "haunted" it was, even more than your run-of-the-mill ghost story. Doctor Sleep is also a film that is haunted by The Shining; this isn't meant as a criticism, but it relies on its audience's familiarity with Kubrick's seminal horror classic to fully appreciate it. There is a story: when Stanley Kubrick was making The Shining, Stephen King presented him with a screenplay...one that was promptly chucked out. Kubrick used King's novel as a framework for telling a horror story that explored the darkness within the family dynamic, where demons like alcoholism were pushed into the foreground; and the celebrated horror novelist never quite forgave the dismissal of his would-be contribution. Fast-forward nearly forty years, and Doctor Sleep is forced to occupy the same awkward place that a child like Danny must have known, torn between two "parents" who have very different opinions about who and what he should become. This struggle adds a kind of "meta" dimension to Doctor Sleep--the past always seems to have a hold over it and its protagonist. With today's powerful computer technology capable of portraying actors as though they were forty years younger, it would be forgivable to use the likenesses of the actors who played characters like Jack and Wendy Torrance in The Shining, superimposed over other players in their stead. However, Doctor Sleep chooses to recast them with different actors, both honoring the original actors' performances from The Shining, while giving credit to a new generation of actors where it's due. Still, Doctor Sleep relies upon the images and sounds of The Shining to minimize exposition and establish tone; even the title sequence lifts its design from the iconic hexagonal carpet Danny rode his big wheel around on in the earlier film. (I can say that when "Dies Irae" played as the camera swooped over Saint Mary Lake and Wild Goose Island yet again, I got chills.) Without the background of The Shining, several moments in Doctor Sleep would feel confusing or outright nonsensical--but this emphasizes that the past exists and cannot simply be ignored, which is itself a key message in this film. In one key scene, Dan is confronted by the ghost of his father (Henry Thomas) in a fashion deliberately modeled after a similar scene from The Shining where a smooth-talking bartender offers an equally smooth dose of whiskey to tempt him into darkness once again--Jack Daniel's, appropriately enough. Dan is forced to contend with the weight of his life experiences, a trajectory born from his trauma as a child and his struggle to cope with his destiny. He must make a choice--to live forever in the shadow of his former life, or choose the future in the form of Abra, and pass the torch to ensure the light lives on.
Recommended for: Fans of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Stephen King's "The Shining", and fans of both. With copious nods to Kubrick's film, however, Doctor Sleep will especially appeal to fans of the movie, who will undoubtedly experience that same sense of nostalgia for the unsettling horror film as I did. Like with The Shining, Doctor Sleep is a mature film, and not recommended for children or those who are easily creeped out by ghosts and other monstrous boogeymen.
When I was in college, I spent a quarter (they were on quarters back then at The Ohio State University) taking a class on the films of Stanley Kubrick. For one assignment, I wrote on the use of music in The Shining, and over a period of about four days, I watched the movie seven times. In that span, I came to love the film, but also came to appreciate how "haunted" it was, even more than your run-of-the-mill ghost story. Doctor Sleep is also a film that is haunted by The Shining; this isn't meant as a criticism, but it relies on its audience's familiarity with Kubrick's seminal horror classic to fully appreciate it. There is a story: when Stanley Kubrick was making The Shining, Stephen King presented him with a screenplay...one that was promptly chucked out. Kubrick used King's novel as a framework for telling a horror story that explored the darkness within the family dynamic, where demons like alcoholism were pushed into the foreground; and the celebrated horror novelist never quite forgave the dismissal of his would-be contribution. Fast-forward nearly forty years, and Doctor Sleep is forced to occupy the same awkward place that a child like Danny must have known, torn between two "parents" who have very different opinions about who and what he should become. This struggle adds a kind of "meta" dimension to Doctor Sleep--the past always seems to have a hold over it and its protagonist. With today's powerful computer technology capable of portraying actors as though they were forty years younger, it would be forgivable to use the likenesses of the actors who played characters like Jack and Wendy Torrance in The Shining, superimposed over other players in their stead. However, Doctor Sleep chooses to recast them with different actors, both honoring the original actors' performances from The Shining, while giving credit to a new generation of actors where it's due. Still, Doctor Sleep relies upon the images and sounds of The Shining to minimize exposition and establish tone; even the title sequence lifts its design from the iconic hexagonal carpet Danny rode his big wheel around on in the earlier film. (I can say that when "Dies Irae" played as the camera swooped over Saint Mary Lake and Wild Goose Island yet again, I got chills.) Without the background of The Shining, several moments in Doctor Sleep would feel confusing or outright nonsensical--but this emphasizes that the past exists and cannot simply be ignored, which is itself a key message in this film. In one key scene, Dan is confronted by the ghost of his father (Henry Thomas) in a fashion deliberately modeled after a similar scene from The Shining where a smooth-talking bartender offers an equally smooth dose of whiskey to tempt him into darkness once again--Jack Daniel's, appropriately enough. Dan is forced to contend with the weight of his life experiences, a trajectory born from his trauma as a child and his struggle to cope with his destiny. He must make a choice--to live forever in the shadow of his former life, or choose the future in the form of Abra, and pass the torch to ensure the light lives on.
Recommended for: Fans of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Stephen King's "The Shining", and fans of both. With copious nods to Kubrick's film, however, Doctor Sleep will especially appeal to fans of the movie, who will undoubtedly experience that same sense of nostalgia for the unsettling horror film as I did. Like with The Shining, Doctor Sleep is a mature film, and not recommended for children or those who are easily creeped out by ghosts and other monstrous boogeymen.