Doctor Sleep

The title for 2019's DOCTOR SLEEP comes from a nickname for Dan Torrance, an orderly at a hospice facility.  He has a psychic ability that allows him to see into the minds of each dying patient, and he uses this knowledge to comfort them in their last moments. An entire movie could've been derived from that story thread alone.  It is but one among many here.   I should also mention that Dan went by the name "Danny" as a child.  His last name should be familiar to filmgoers, especially fans of Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film THE SHINING. 

That of course was an adaptation of Stephen King's same named novel.  It is well known that King was not a fan of Kubrick's film...and that he is certainly in the minority.  Kubrick was likely not at all interested in the sort of genre horror King writes, instead using the story to explore many psychological avenues pointing toward ideas that King hadn't considered.  In other words, the director made it his own, not tethered to the author's sacred text.  I'm not always behind this method, but there was only one Kubrick.

King wrote a sequel some years later and Mike Flanagan undertook the unenviable task of adapting it as writer and director.  Somehow, he's made a film that is a successful alchemy of both King's and Kubrick's fancies. 

Dan (Ewan Mcgregor) has been tortured by his gift, a "shining" since those terrible events in the original story.  He became an alcoholic, reduced to stealing money from his one-nighter, a single mother.   Visions of Dick Halloran (Carl Lumbly), the chef from the Overlook Hotel, haunt/comfort him periodically.  The other ghosts for the now long abandoned hotel also seek to pursue him, but Dan has learned to trap them in boxes in his mind. 

Eventually, Dan moves to a new town, joins AA, and gets the hospice gig.  He's eight years into his sobriety when the word REDRUM appears on the chalkboard in his room one night.  The message is from a young girl across town named Abra (Kyliegh Curran), who also possesses Dan's gift, and may be the most powerful such individual of all.   She certainly attracts the attention of a vicious cult known as the True Knot, who torture and kill those with the shining as they release a life perpetuating vapor.  Life that may go on for centuries.  The cult leader, Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) becomes obsessed with consuming Abra, but may have finally met her match. 

DOCTOR SLEEP, long but always engrossing, works fairly well with this intriguing story, a continuation.  Flanagan has a good sense of narrative and strong visual ideas.  He's unafraid of tackling very tricky scenes that in other hands might've be unwatchable.  For some viewers, they will remain so.  Flanagan has also gone to great pains to pay homage to Stanley Kubrick.  The last portion of his film returns to The Overlook, and the recreations of it are very impressive.  He even manages some of the creepy old atmosphere.  I found all of this quite interesting, but maybe unnecessary.  It is the cherry on top of a fairly satisfying confection, which is not to say there isn't some worthy drama in its examination of addiction.  The nods to THE SHINING occur throughout DOCTOR SLEEP, and are welcome.  

Flanagan could've just stuck with the new story and scored all the same.  The cast is fine.  The film in moments does resemble a super hero saga, but don't let that stop you.  The entirety of DOCTOR SLEEP is arguably unnecessary, but certainly worth the ride for the curious.