NickReview for Doctor Sleep (2019) Directed by Mike Flanagan. Starring: Rebecca Ferguson, Ewan McGregor, Jacob Tremblay. IMDB says “Years following the events of “The Shining,” a now-adult Dan Torrance meets a young girl with similar powers as he tries to protect her from a cult known as The True Knot who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.”
“… they called it shining”
I must preface this review by stating the obvious: I’m a massive fan of The Shining. I’ve talked about it before on the French Toast Sunday podcast, as well as others, and lately I’ve gone overboard. I don’t know if I amped up my obsession when I saw the initial trailer for Doctor Sleep, but since it’s release, I’ve averaged a viewing of The Shining a week. Recently, due to the 4K restoration, I watched The Shining, three times in less than a week. Two of those viewings were in the theater! To say I was looking forward to Doctor Sleep is an understatement; but I knew to temper my expectations. I’m not so naive to think that this film would be on par with The Shining. The Shining has come to be hailed as a masterpiece of not just horror, but in all of film. The film to take great advantage of Stedicam technology, was wildly different from the novel, Stephen King hated it, etcetera etcetera, we all know The Shining. But not many people know Doctor Sleep. Even as I exited the theater, many people commented on how they didn’t know the book existed. I myself have not read Doctor Sleep, but I have read and quite enjoyed The Shining. So how do you take a book that most people don’t know exist, remain faithful to the text, all while combining elements of both the book and film versions of The Shining? More importantly, can I get out of the way of my bias and fairly review this film?
Doctor Sleep follows Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) as an adult. We get flashbacks to his childhood, of course, but the film shows us how Danny has taken a road similarly traveled by his father: alcoholism and anger. He makes his way north to a small town in search of a better life. Meanwhile, a group known as ‘The True Knot’, headed by Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) feed on those who shine. In their journey for sustenance, they come across a young girl, Abra (Kyleigh Curran), who is more powerful than they ever imagined. Through a series of circumstances, both normal and paranormal, Danny and Abra must band together to stop The True Knot. Written, edited, and directed by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) Doctor Sleep runs just a hair over two and a half hours, but it never feels that way. Oddly, it feels longer and shorter at the same time. The film surges along, but it always finds a way to stop the momentum for a Shining reference. It almost becomes more of a hassle than a help. I understand the need to reference The Shining, and the film does so in very creative ways, but there are chunks dedicated to young Danny as well as the Overlook that I can’t help but feel is overkill. Sure, there is a great anticipation of returning to the Overlook, but the film does such a good job with the main storylines, that by the time we arrive, it feels more like fan service than story necessity. The film starts with a light sprinkle of references, and by the end of the film, you’re buried with wave after wave and the film loses steam rather than end with a climactic explosion.
Flanagan does a great job tying in elements of both the book and film version of The Shining. There is no retcon of events, but he finds smart ways of inserting ideas and dialogue from the books that might not have necessarily fit with Kubrick’s vision. While Flanagan and set designers do a fantastic job of recreating set pieces, and even some scenes shot for shot, there are some slight differences. Characters don’t look exactly like we remember them, nor do the locations, but that’s because we are seeing everything from Danny’s point of view. We see what’s been traumatizing him and how he perceives things. It all adds a sense of familiarity without the added pressure of everything having to be exact. No ludicrous and unneeded CGI face mapping, etc. While The Shining terrorized you with a lingering and ominous dread, Doctor Sleep thrives on more traditional suspense and body horror type scares. Nothing will jump out at you, but you mail squirm in your seat or avert your eyes at the more grotesque moments.
The tone is set wonderfully by the soundtrack, crafted by The Newton Brothers (Haunting of Hill House, Into the Dark). It’s a perfect amalgamation of the Shining soundtrack, as well as the building blocks for something new. The original themes stand out when they need to, and take a back seat as we establish new characters and a deeper understanding of what it means to shine. The film looks great, but the use of CGI locations becomes very distracting. Some scenes feel like the actors were in a green screen box and the walls/locations were painted on. It lacked the realism the film needed to anchor itself and maintain it’s believability. Then again we are talking about people who shine, communicate with the dead, and sustain decade/century long lives by feeding on the shine of others. Shining in general has received an upgrade and we are introduced to greater abilities within the idea of shining that don’t feel new for the sake of new. Everything makes sense and plays within the rules of the world it creates.
Doctor Sleep is fine, but it will always live in the shadow of The Shining, no matter how much it celebrates while trying to separate itself. Worth checking out if you need to see something in theaters, but you can wait for a home release.