Reviews

Dr. Sleep provides worthy, but different, follow up to "The Shining".

Reporter Austin Kent

Doctor Sleep was directed by Mike Flanagan, and stars Ewan McGregor, Jessica Ferguson, and Kyleigh Curran, and follows an adult Danny Torance, now an alcoholic, struggling to suppress the events of his childhood, and the psychic abilities he calls “The Shining”. He then comes across a girl with the same abilities, and helps her escape an evil group who wants her powers for themselves.

Mike Flanagan has been on a roll over the past year, with Haunting of Hill House, Hush (an actually good Ouija sequel) and Netflix’s Gerald's Game (another Stephen King adaptation). It only makes sense that he decided to adapt another one of King’s books. But that's a heavy burden, because not only does he have to stay true to the source material and make sure to please King fans, he also has to please Kubrick fans, as more people are familiar with Stanley Kubrick's film opposed to Stephen King’s novel.

This film is shot very, very well. It flows beautifully; the shots linger on screen just enough to be very unsettling. Flanagan definitely knew what he was doing not just behind the camera as a director, but as the editor for the film.

As far as a horror movie goes, people may not like it due to it not following the formula most horror movies take nowadays: a jump scare every few minutes accompanied by a loud jolt of sound or music. Now, there are a few of those, but they feel earned, like they are integral to the plot. But the most frightening parts of the film are the things you don't even see, the things that are implied. The biggest stars of the film never arrive on screen, but leave you with this mental image of an implied happening that burrows deeper and deeper into your mind, leaving you more and more disturbed as the film goes on. And for me, that was just incredible.

This movie is really great; I loved it. Is it as good or as better as The Shining? No, and it was never trying to be. I was afraid it was going to try and be better. The Shining has had decades to become as iconic as it is.

There’s really no point in trying to compare because Doctor Sleep does things so differently than that of its predecessor, which isn't a bad thing, it works very well.

Ewan McGregor was great in this film. He was very believable as a struggling alcoholic with a disturbing past. Jessica Ferguson is also incredible in this movie as Rose the Hat, the main villain. That's another thing about this film: the bad guys in it were some of the most fleshed out I have seen in pretty much all year. They were all very grounded and realistic, and when you learn about their goal and why they're doing what they're doing, it makes sense. You understand why they're doing the awful things that they've done.

All in all, I had a very good time with this film. It was entertaining, unsettling, and overall a great film.