Years after the events at the Overlook Hotel, Danny Torrance helps a young girl who has similar, but more powerful abilities to him as she is targeted by a group called The True Knot, who prey on children, feeding on their power…
I didn’t love The Shining the first time I saw it. I liked it, but thought it okay. However, each time I’ve seen it since then, it has gone from being okay, to being the scariest film I have ever seen. Judging from a recent screening I went to, to prepare for Doctor Sleep, the audience there were scared by it too.
One person who disliked Stanley Kubrick’s film of The Shining, is Stephen King. Over the years, he has talked about Kubrick’s film of his novel, calling it a cold film, gutting his novel and removing a lot of the story, keeping the bare bones for his film. I finally read The Shining a few years ago, long after seeing the film and would agree with King to a point. It’s a damn good book and Kubrick’s film, is a poor adaptation, though like I said, a damn scary film.
Doctor Sleep was published in 2013. The sequel to The Shining, it, of course, ignores the film version altogether, continuing the story of a now adult Danny. I read the novel, shortly after reading The Shining and I did enjoy it.
When it was announced that the book was to be turned into a film, the question that I think lingered, was how the film version of Doctor Sleep would deal with Kubrick’s film version of The Shining. Would it ignore the film altogether, going back to King’s original novel instead and combine it with Doctor Sleep or would it acknowledge the film and combine that into Doctor Sleep’s narrative?
In the end, Mike Flanagan has managed to take both the book and film version of The Shining and take what he needed to add to his adaptation of Doctor Sleep. It’s a tricky thing to pull of, but I think Flanagan knew (and I suspect King himself would reluctantly agree with), Kubrick’s film is perhaps better known, especially to film fans, than King’s novel.
But, to be clear, while this is a sequel to The Shining (book and film), it is not The Shining Part II. The Shining focuses on the Torrance family in the Overlook and the building terror there. Doctor Sleep is a more expansive story, taking place in several states in the US, with a number of characters. But while also dealing with the main aspect of the story, Danny, the girl Abra and The True Knot, it also deals with coming to terms with your past as Danny begins to understand his father more and in a way, learning to really bury the past and let it go to a degree. Flanagan’s script is a good one, giving the cast good material to work with.
And the cast are up to the challenge. Ewan McGregor is great as the grown up Danny (now Dan), coming to terms fully with his past. Even better is Rebecca Ferguson as Rose The Hat, the leader of The True Knot. She is a creepy character indeed and Ferguson nails the part. Kyliegh Curran plays the girl Abra and is very good too. Alex Essoe, Carl Lumbly and A. N. Other play the roles of Wendy, Hallorann and Jack from The Shining, as Flanagan re-stages some scenes from Kubrick’s film well and also for Doctor Sleep’s early scenes, set in the aftermath of The Shining. They don’t get a lot of screentime, but they do make the roles their own, rather than simply copy the earlier film. Cliff Curtis is good as Dan’s friend Billy Freeman who gets involved in the story and there are small roles for Bruce Greenwood and Jocelin Donahue. All are good.
Flanagan does direct the film very well indeed, staging some great unsettling moments, the worst being the death of Bradley Trevor (a small but tremendous role for Jacob Tremblay) at the hands of The True Knot. It’s a horrible moment in the film and really gets to you.
He also allows the story to build, taking his time. It would have been easy to perhaps make changes to cut the run time, but I think in allowing the story to breathe, it gives time for the characters to grow and develop, as the film heads to it’s climax in the now ruined Overlook hotel, which is a gripping one indeed.
However, despite the story, despite the well written script and despite Flanagan’s good direction, I was never really scared by the film. To be fair, I was never scared by the novel, the way both the novel and film version of The Shining scared me. It’s a shame as everything else in the film I really enjoyed.
The film is very well shot by Michael Fimognari and The Newton Brothers have created a superb score than incorporates music from Kubrick’s film very well indeed. The production, art and set design are first rate as the film recreates some sets from The Shining very well, so well you’d think they were the same ones (including the legendary blood from the elevator scene). It’s clear a lot of thought and effort has been put into the film and it has paid off.
I really enjoyed Doctor Sleep, despite the lack of scares. It’s a follow-up that doesn’t try to copy what Kubrick did and is its own thing and is the better for it. It’s a long film, but doesn’t feel like one.
Mike Flanagan’s efforts put him alongside Peter Hyams. Hyams had the near impossible task of making 2010, the sequel/follow-up to Kubrick (and Clarke’s) 2001. He somehow pulled off a damn good film.
With his adaptation of King’s book and as a follow up to another Kubrick film, Flanagan has managed to do the same thing with Doctor Sleep.
Well worth checking out.
Rating: ***1/2 out of 5
The Grump Of Horror 