Movie Breakdown: Doctor Sleep
Pre-Screening Ramble:
I’ve been looking forward to Doctor Sleep for a while. Mike Flanagan, who recently directed a super solid adaptation of Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game, is talented, and he’s working with a loaded cast. This should be good.
Post-Screening Ramble:
I really loved Doctor Sleep, but I believe this may be because I’m someone who likes and appreciates but doesn’t adore Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. What I mean by this is that they’re both good (and by the way, you’ll need to see The Shining for Doctor Sleep to fully make sense or have any impact), but they’re also very different. This, as indicated, really worked for me, but if you’re wanting more of the same, I think Doctor Sleep might be a miss for you.
Where The Shining is a horror film with a slow pace and an anxiety-riddled atmosphere that builds and builds until the top blows off, Doctor Sleep is more of a fantasy thriller that pushes you in the deep end right from the start. You’re expected to know who Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) is, what it means to “shine” and so on. It also immediately pulls you into the doings of Rose The Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) and her merry gang of shine sucking deviants. Doctor Sleep is not what I would describe as scary – though it does regularly dip itself into the creepy, twisted side of things – but that’s because it’s not just some horror-centric sequel, but an expansion of the dark, underlying mysticism in the world that the characters and events of The Shining exist. For some, I think this may register Doctor Sleep as unnecessary, especially without a litany of frightening moments driving it, but the world-building here is really well done and I found myself completely wrapped up in the film for its entire two and a half hour runtime.
Doctor Sleep is a more than worthy sequel to The Shining. It ties in very nicely with the 1980 classic while completely shoving off in another, more interesting direction. Highly recommended! But only if you’re good with an experience that differs from Kubrick’s film.
One Last Thought:
Some of the characters from The Shining are played by different people in Doctor Sleep. It totally makes sense to have new actors in new scenes, but for whatever reason I found it a bit jarring. Still, I’m glad they didn’t do the CG-face, de-aging thing, which likely would have been even more distracting.
One More Last Thought:
Kyliegh Curran plays Abra, a young lady with a very powerful shine, in the film and a even with a ton of famous faces around her, she manages to stand out. Impressive.
