Doctor Sleep is a supernatural horror film, based on the Stephen King book of the same name. Doctor Sleep follows on from the events of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film the Shining and follows an adult Danny Torrence, (Ewan McGregor), who has been scared and broken after the events at the Overlook Hotel; the ghosts still haunt Danny, both literally and figuratively, and he has all but, stopped using his ‘Shine’.
The Plot follows Danny as he tries to come to terms with what happened to him and move past it, it does to a degree until follower Shiner Abra Stone, (Kyleigh Curran), bursts into his life. Abra is the target of a group of beings who feed off the souls of shiners, with her powers drawing them ever closer.
First thing first I loved his film, and I will get to that, but I want to talk about the one negative that bothered me about the film. Said negative is the de-aged characters, through the film, there are several flashbacks to the events of The Shining, but the original cast don’t reprise their roles. This change in actors did distract me and take me out of those scenes; with them being more than a bit jarring.
That said everything else about the film is a triumph, Doctor Sleep manages to be a sequel not only to the Stanley Kubrick film but also to Stephen King’s The Shining. Both of these version of the story are very different, with some people liking one more than the other. However, Doctor Sleep manages to do both versions justice and be a worthy follow up.
Furthermore, it’s nice to see how the events of The Shining affected Danny, and see how he has lived with his abilities since then. McGregor does a great job showing us this, as we can see just how damaged he is, but he is still sympathetic and believable as the hero. It’s nice to see him take on a mentorship role to Abra, just like Dick Holloran to him.
Carrying on from that one of the best things that Doctor Sleep does is build the world of The Shining, it highlights what the shine is and what it can do, and how different people have a variety of shine based abilities and use them for varying odds and ends. Danny’s shine was always the most interesting part of the original narrative and, I’m glad to see it explored in more detail here.
Finally, the best part of the film is Rebecca Ferguson’s villain, Rose. Rose is the leader of True Knot, the evil group hunting down Abra. Ferguson plays this evil manic pixie girl to perfection, easily being one of the best and most memorable antagonists of 2019. She is a scene stealer.
Overall, Doctor Sleep is a worthy follow up to one of the all-time horror greats, which is no mean feat. The narrative fits perfectly into the ending of The Shining and makes it feel like required viewing, which if you like horror films, Ewan McGregor, or Rebecca Ferguson it is.
4.5/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 