Review: Doctor Sleep

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Making a sequel to an iconic horror movie like "The Shining" is seemingly a daunting task because it's unlikely any other director than Stanley Kubrick could match the original's foreboding style and mysterious aura. Director Mike Flanagan does sort of an interesting thing with "Doctor Sleep," a film based on Stephen King's sequel novel, by marrying some elements of Kubrick's 1980 film with King's own take on the story.

King famously hated Kubrick's film - which I'll never quite get, although I understand the original story was a personal one for the author, while the director had his own specific vision for the narrative - so Flanagan must have done some wrangling to get his blessing for a film that follows up the original ending of the 1980 film (which differed from that of the book).

"Doctor Sleep" is an imperfect film - the picture's lead group of villains, known as the True Knot, are at once compelling and slightly ridiculous, the former mostly due to Rebecca Ferguson's sinister presence as Rose the Hat, who leads a band of villains who capture young people who "shine" and basically eat their soul, and the latter because the story over-explains how "the shining" works and how the True Knot feeds on the "steam" of those who have it as they are dying. It's sort of similar to when they explained "the force" in those "Star Wars" prequels.

That being said, there are some very strong sequences in the film - including a horrifying scene in which a young boy played by Jacob Tremblay is devoured by the True Knot and the visit in the finale to the Overlook Hotel, although it plays heavily on nostalgia - and Ewan McGregor gives his best performance in some time as Danny Torrance, the young boy who escaped Jack Nicholson's crazed father in the original film and has now grown up into an alcoholic who lives in a dingy apartment.

But Danny meets a kind man (Cliff Curtis) who gives him a chance and gets him into AA, and eventually finds himself in a long-distance "shining" friendship with a young girl named Abra (Kyliegh Curran), who makes her powerful presence known to the True Knot and, as a result, puts herself in grave danger.

While "The Shining" worked brilliantly as an epic - and epic-length - horror film,  the running time for "Doctor Sleep" feels a little on the longish side, but it mostly remains compelling throughout. It takes some guts to make a sequel to a film that is among the most revered in the horror genre, especially 39 years after the fact, but Flanagan's film mostly works. No, it doesn't hold a candle to Kubrick's visionary work, but it's one that horror movie fans will certainly want to seek out.