In 1980, Stanley Kubrick redefined horror movies when he directed the film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1977 novel, The Shining. In the nearly four decades since, dialogue, scenes, and images from that film have been copied, parodied, and revered in different forms of media. King, though, famously clashed with Kubrick on that film and has supposedly never fully embraced it in spite of all of its success. In 2013, King wrote a follow-up novel featuring what happened to Danny Torrance called Doctor Sleep. Now, director and writer Mike Flanagan takes up the challenge of bringing that sequel to the big screen while stepping into the shoes of both Kubrick and King. And he surprisingly pulls it off magnificently.
The film begins right after the events in The Shining. Young Danny Torrance (Roger Dale Floyd) and his mother Wendy (Alex Essoe) have moved as far from Colorado as they can, making a home for themselves in Florida. He’s still haunted by the woman in the bathtub in room 237 of the Overlook Hotel and it takes a visit by the ghost of Dick Hallorann (Carl Lumbly) to teach Danny how to deal with the woman and any subsequent ghosts he may yet encounter.
Meanwhile, a cult known as the True Knot and their leader Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) has been feeding off the “steam” or life essence of people with the Shining ability dying. Rose recruits a girl who can control minds named Snakebite Andi (Emily Alyn Lind) to join them, promising her a very long life.
Fast forward to 2011 and the adult Danny (Ewan McGregor) has become an alcoholic. He hardly uses his Shining abilities anymore and has moved to a small town in New Hampshire where he befriends Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis). Billy helps Danny find a place to stay, becomes his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, as well as helps him get a job at a hospice. In the hospice, Danny uses his Shining to help elderly patients in their dying moments, earning him the name “Doctor Sleep.” A young girl with the Shining named Abra Stone also reaches out to Danny despite living miles away from him.
Eight years pass and Danny is clean and sober while maintaining a decent life working in the same hospice. The True Knot is still feeding on steam to maintain their youth, but when they attack a young boy, teenage Abra (Kyliegh Curran) sees all of it in her mind. Her distress alerts both Danny and Rose the Hat, which prompts Rose to look for Abra to feed off her own steam. Abra seeks Danny out, but he tells her to avoid using the Shining and forget him instead. But when Rose astral projects to look for Abra herself, a series of events follow that bring these elements together, as well as a visit to a familiar place filled with things long thought dead and buried.
From the opening music to the opening credits, it’s immediately clear that Flanagan is a fan of The Shining. There are countless callbacks and nods to the original film, perhaps too many to count. Yet this is a clear continuation of Danny Torrance’s story and how he has tried to cope with what happened to him as a child in the Overlook Hotel. Several actors took on roles from that first film, from Lumbly taking over for Scatman Crothers to Essoe succeeding Shelley Duvall, and the surprise of Henry Thomas (the same Henry Thomas who played Elliot in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial) picking up the axe from Jack Nicholson.
It’s best to watch Doctor Sleep and divide it into three segments: Danny and his mom surviving the Overlook, Danny’s life being rebuilt after his alcoholism, and the film’s climax right back in Colorado. Flanagan deftly manages each of these segments to make a coherent film that introduces new scares in the form of Rose the Hat and her cast of characters in the True Knot while still bringing back some old favorites. It is absolutely essential that you watch The Shining before Doctor Sleep because not doing so will both rob you of seeing a cinematic classic as well as the enjoyment of how this second film attempts to pay it proper homage.
King himself wrote the Doctor Sleep novel as an examination of how Danny would deal with the childhood trauma he suffered and this film captures the loneliness, the fear, and the helplessness that the child who beheld all that tragedy carried into his adult life. McGregor isn’t quite as damaged as Mark Renton in his breakthrough performance in Trainspotting, but that doesn’t take away from his trying to escape into a bottle of alcohol.
In Rose the Hat, Crow Daddy (Zahn McClarnon), Snakebite Andi, and the other members of the True Knot, a new group of creepy protagonists is introduced with another form of menace compared to the ghosts in the Overlook Hotel. With their charm, sexiness, and allure, it becomes believable that they can entice others to join them even though it comes with a high price. Their menacing forms and abilities also make Danny’s desperate gambit in the movie’s climax a necessity rather than mere fan service.
To many, The Shining has stood for four decades as an example of horror done unlike any other film before it. That remains true, but Doctor Sleep still adds to that film’s mystique without taking it down any pegs. For that alone, Flanagan, McGregor, Ferguson, and everyone involved should be proud of their accomplishment.
Photos and Videos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
About the Author:
Jason Inocencio was once the Digital Editor of adobo magazine who still loves seeing great campaigns from all over the world. He proudly shows off his love for all kinds of geeky things, whether it be movies, TV shows, comics, sports, or trivia.
