← Back to Reviews
in
Why did this movie fail at the box office? Multiple reasons; it was released after the classic horror movie month of October, it has an overly long run time of 152 minutes and a bunch of people had no idea it was a sequel to The Shining. Doctor Sleep as a title doesn't really translate enough information to the audience as to what the film is about. This is a shame because Doctor Sleep does the impossible task of being it's own movie while simultaneously honouring the legacy of Kubrick's Shining. It had to walk that tight rope of adapting a book and a movie at the same time, Mike Flanagan does a marvelous job of it and I applaud him.
Danny is older now and the trauma from the Overlook has followed him home. He's become an alcoholic, just like his father. Moving from town to town, he finally settles in a small town in New Hampshire and meets Billy, who becomes his AA sponsor and gets him a job at a hospice where he uses his shine to help people pass on, giving him the moniker of Doctor Sleep. While his life is slowly coming back together, a young girl named Abra is showcasing unbelievable Shine powers, Danny senses this...but so do a traveling group of vampire like creatures that feed on people with Shine.
A lot of things work here while only a few things don't. I think the performances from everyone is aces, with McGregor managing to make the role his own. The real stand out is Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat, one of those travelling shine suckers. They refer to it as steam since when they suck the power out it looks like steam escaping the victims mouth. In one horrifying scene we see them torture and suck the steam out of a young boy. The steam is better when they suffer.
Characters from the original show up here, but they make the interesting choice of recasting them instead of digitally manipulating the actor to look like the original counter-part. It worked for me until freaking Elliott from E.T. shows up and immediately takes you out of the emotional and creepy moment. I don't know which choice would have been better, but the recent move to the digital manipulation I think would have made it less distracting.
The film changes the ending to the book and it becomes what people have criticized as fan service. I don't really see it that way as the logical conclusion would be to "go back". I do prefer the film as its own thing though, instead of being The Shining 2.0 towards the climax, but it doesn't detract from the overall film.
Mike Flanagan should be the go-to adaptation guy of King's work, he simply "gets it". Doctor Sleep deserved to be seen by more people and Flanagan is a filmmaker whose work I greatly enjoy.
Doctor Sleep
Why did this movie fail at the box office? Multiple reasons; it was released after the classic horror movie month of October, it has an overly long run time of 152 minutes and a bunch of people had no idea it was a sequel to The Shining. Doctor Sleep as a title doesn't really translate enough information to the audience as to what the film is about. This is a shame because Doctor Sleep does the impossible task of being it's own movie while simultaneously honouring the legacy of Kubrick's Shining. It had to walk that tight rope of adapting a book and a movie at the same time, Mike Flanagan does a marvelous job of it and I applaud him.
Danny is older now and the trauma from the Overlook has followed him home. He's become an alcoholic, just like his father. Moving from town to town, he finally settles in a small town in New Hampshire and meets Billy, who becomes his AA sponsor and gets him a job at a hospice where he uses his shine to help people pass on, giving him the moniker of Doctor Sleep. While his life is slowly coming back together, a young girl named Abra is showcasing unbelievable Shine powers, Danny senses this...but so do a traveling group of vampire like creatures that feed on people with Shine.
A lot of things work here while only a few things don't. I think the performances from everyone is aces, with McGregor managing to make the role his own. The real stand out is Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat, one of those travelling shine suckers. They refer to it as steam since when they suck the power out it looks like steam escaping the victims mouth. In one horrifying scene we see them torture and suck the steam out of a young boy. The steam is better when they suffer.
Characters from the original show up here, but they make the interesting choice of recasting them instead of digitally manipulating the actor to look like the original counter-part. It worked for me until freaking Elliott from E.T. shows up and immediately takes you out of the emotional and creepy moment. I don't know which choice would have been better, but the recent move to the digital manipulation I think would have made it less distracting.
The film changes the ending to the book and it becomes what people have criticized as fan service. I don't really see it that way as the logical conclusion would be to "go back". I do prefer the film as its own thing though, instead of being The Shining 2.0 towards the climax, but it doesn't detract from the overall film.
Mike Flanagan should be the go-to adaptation guy of King's work, he simply "gets it". Doctor Sleep deserved to be seen by more people and Flanagan is a filmmaker whose work I greatly enjoy.