Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep shines

Warner Bros. Pictures

It’s been 39 years since one of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpieces, The Shining, was released and 42 years since Stephen King’s novel was first published. It only took King 36 years to publish a sequel to the original novel, Doctor Sleep in 2013, and another six years to bring that story to the screen. But with Kubrick’s The Shining regarded by many as a true classic (even though King has complained that it’s not his book), is there any way the follow-up film can match the original’s brilliance (and please King in the process)?

Doctor Sleep picks up not long after the Torrance family’s ordeal at the Overlook Hotel. Young Danny is still haunted by the spirits that tormented him there, particularly the woman in Room 237 (217 in both books), and he hasn’t spoken a word to anyone since he and his mother moved to Florida just so they’d never see snow again. But one spirit, Dick Hallorann (played by Scatman Crothers in the first film), acts as Danny’s sort-of guardian angel, showing him how to create lockboxes in his mind in which he can trap the spirits who come to torment him. Finally locking the woman away, Danny speaks to his mother and all is well.

Until he grows up and becomes his father’s son, drunk and angry all the time. Deciding he needs a change of scenery, Dan makes his way north to a small town in New Hampshire (wait, he didn’t go to Castle Rock?!), is befriended by Billy Freeman, enters into AA and begins to get his life on track. But he suddenly starts receiving messages from a mysterious source which turns out to be a young girl named Abra. She has the same gift as Dan, what he calls ‘the shining’ and she has some bad news for him — a group of supernatural beings are committing horrific murders against people with their gift in order to extract that gift, which they call ‘steam’, to extend their own lives. And now they know about Abra and they will soon know about Dan. Once Abra directs Dan to the site of the murder of a young boy, they know that the group led by Rose the Hat will be coming for them. But are a middle aged man and a young girl enough? Not even Dan believes that but he knows a place that is dangerous to people who ‘shine’ so it will most likely be just as dangerous to Rose and her crew.

I really didn’t know what to expect from Doctor Sleep. I haven’t seen The Shining since the day it opened in 1980, but there are images from the film that are indelible regardless of if you’ve seen the movie once or one hundred times. And director Mike Flanagan, who has dealt with King material before with Gerald’s Game (which is a companion of sorts to King’s Dolores Claiborne) and knows a thing or two about haunted places after directing The Haunting of Hill House, knows exactly what these images are: young Danny wheeling through the halls of the Overlook on his tricycle, the woman in Room 237, the elevators of blood, the spooky twins at the end of the hallway, the grand ballroom of the hotel, Jack Torrance’s typewriter, and the scene of the axe coming through the door. All of these things are important to tie the two film’s together, but they are also important to forwarding this story so it would have been impossible to simply use footage from the original movie. Flanagan instead painstakingly recreated every set-piece from The Shining and mimicked Kubrick’s style, including the then innovative Steadicam tracking shots and slow dissolves, to make Doctor Sleep work as another piece of a larger work. Some have complained that Flanagan is simply copying Kubrick to appease the fans but it was entirely necessary to conform to what Kubrick did with The Shining so his film wasn’t jarring stylistically. And Flanagan also managed to get two actors in Roger Dale Floyd (Young Danny) and Alex Essoe (Wendy Torrance) who resembled the original actors closely enough (and Essoe sounds exactly like Shelley Duvall) to allow viewers to accept this as a continuation of the original, not just a sequel that stands out like a sore thumb.

Flanagan has also cast some great actors for the present day roles. Ewan McGregor is terrific as the older Dan, bringing his struggles to life realistically but also allowing you to root for him to help Abra and face off against Rose. Kyliegh Curran is a wonder as Abra, precocious when she wants to be, but never obnoxious, and totally grasping the gravity of their situation once Rose and her hang start closing in on them. And she manages to pull off a wonderful moment where she is able to channel Dan, changing her whole demeanor from a scared girl to an older man. This is her second role and first major production, and I think it’s safe to say she has a promising career ahead of her if she chooses the right projects.

Carl Lumbley does a fine job as Dick but it took me a minute to realize he was the Scatman Crothers character considering how closely the other actors resembled their original counterparts. Cliff Curtis is also good as Dan’s new friend and sponsor Billy, but Bruce Greenwood felt a bit underused, and I’m dying to know how they got Jacob Tremblay for a very brief ‘is that Jacob Tremblay’ role. And eagle-eyed viewers may notice original Danny Torrance actor Danny Lloyd has a cameo as a spectator (I’m assuming at the ball game Tremblay’s character is playing in). There are so many other great actors in the movie as well, but in addition to McGregor and Curran, there is no overlooking Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat. Ferguson is able to be exceedingly charming when we first meet her as she entertains a child with a magic trick, but she quickly turns malevolent as the story progresses. And while she is the film’s villain, she still manages to make us understand that while what she does is really, really bad, she does it to keep her family together. At one point Dan asks if she’s the last of her kind and she says there are many more like her around the world … but it’s never really clear if she’s telling the truth or just trying to put some fear in him. She gives a terrific, mesmerizing performance.

And, of course, in addition to Flanagan’s filmic style, there is the production design. All of the contemporary settings feel like real places, but the real star of the production design is the Overlook Hotel. The brief glimpses at the beginning of the movie are tantalizing, right down to the signature carpet pattern, but when we get to the hotel during the last quarter of the movie, it’s like being back in 1980 watching The Shining. Flanagan and his team did an amazing job of bringing the Overlook back to life from the ballroom to the hedge maze, really making the two films feel like one. And The Newton Brothers’ music also helps drive the film in a subtle way without hitting you over the head with loud scare cues (as Dan enters the Overlook, a constant thumping heartbeat sound in the music had me anxious and on the edge of my seat). Flanagan also handled the cinematography, editing and screenplay, proving himself to be a true auteur I think Kubrick would be proud of.

Like The Shining, Doctor Sleep is not exactly King’s book (I’ve already heard complaints about plot points being omitted for the film), but books aren’t movies and movies aren’t books. Take Doctor Sleep on its own terms and I think you will come away a bit unnerved and very pleased with what you saw on screen. I know I was.

Doctor Sleep has a run time of 2 hours 31 minutes and is rated R for disturbing and violent content, some bloody images, language, nudity and drug use.