Doctor Sleep (2019)
The idea of a sequel to the 1980 film The Shining by Stanley Kubrick should be an idea that terrifies me. The Shining is one of my favorite psychological thrillers and the idea of a film like that being made now seems crazy. Yet when it was announced that there would be a sequel to The Shining not only was I ok with it but I was excited due to one name, Mike Flanagan. Over the past few years, horror has gone through a modern resonance with multiple directors stepping up putting out fresh and quality films with Mike Flanagan being one that has caught my eye. With projects like Hush, Gerald's Game, and The Haunting of Hill House, Flanagan has proved himself to be one of the most talented horror directors currently working and knowing that he would be behind this movie put me at ease. Even after some really disappointing and uninspiring trailers, I had faith in this movie to come together into something good and the initial reactions seemed to hint at this. Everyone seemed to either pick the side of this movie being a bland follow up to an iconic movie or one of the best horror films of the year with engaging characters and ideas that perfectly lived up to the legendary first film. I was so excited when I finally got the chance to sit down and see this movie and what I got was difficult for me to really understand my thoughts on.
Despite learning how to deal with the ghosts haunting him from his past, Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) still suffers from what happened to him as a child at the Overlook Hotel. Danny is an alcoholic who is trying to start a new chapter in his life when he starts to communicate with a young girl named Abra (Kyliegh Curran) who is starting to explore and understand her Shining powers. Things turn deadly though as a group of mysterious individuals led by a woman known as Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) start to track Abra with the hope to kill her and take her soul due to her Shining abilities. For being a sequel to such a huge movie like The Shining there is a certain level of expectations that form surrounding the story of the movie and how they will continue the story of such an iconic character as Danny Torrance and for the majority of this movie this was one of the biggest things bothering me about the movie. The plot of this movie is fine, it is a pretty standard set up and it does really nothing to break the mold with its layout or ideas but as a horror movie, it was fine. Though as a sequel to The Shining I really struggled to see the point of it. The events happening in this movie really have nothing to do with The Shining, these are events that happen to take place that happen to become involved with Danny Torrance. They do not happen because of anything that happened with Danny previously and really felt like a generic horror movie that happened to add elements of The Shining for a boost of interest from the general audience (would not be shocked if King did this when writing the book). That is until the end, where the first two-thirds of this movie felt a bit dull and slow the final third of this movie is quite frankly amazing. I don't want to get too far into spoilers but finally, this is where they start to explore the deeper and more interesting parts of Danny Torrance and finally, it ties into the actual events of The Shining giving closure to the character of Danny and the Overlook.
It also helps that the acting is overall quite strong throughout the film, Even in bad movies Ewan McGregor has always been solid and here is no different. This is a hurt character who still is dealing with the pain and suffering from his past and McGregor does a great job bringing this character to life showcasing all sides of his character from the fear to power he has gained learning to understand his Shining power and grow from it. Rebecca Ferguson is also really wonderful in this film mixing charisma with terrifying creating a memorable villain who had a presence to her whenever she was on screen. If there was one standout in the acting though it would have to be Kyliegh Curran as Abra. This has been a great year for new child actors and where Curran will definitely have less conversation around her than Roman Griffin Davis, for example, she really kills it. This is a powerful performance that requires Curran to directly compete against people like Rebecca Ferguson when it comes to attitude and charisma and she nails it. She is such an enjoyable character who goes beyond nearly all other child performances and characters in a movie like this truly being able to shine and carry scenes on her own which is extremely impressive.
It also helps that the acting is overall quite strong throughout the film, Even in bad movies Ewan McGregor has always been solid and here is no different. This is a hurt character who still is dealing with the pain and suffering from his past and McGregor does a great job bringing this character to life showcasing all sides of his character from the fear to power he has gained learning to understand his Shining power and grow from it. Rebecca Ferguson is also really wonderful in this film mixing charisma with terrifying creating a memorable villain who had a presence to her whenever she was on screen. If there was one standout in the acting though it would have to be Kyliegh Curran as Abra. This has been a great year for new child actors and where Curran will definitely have less conversation around her than Roman Griffin Davis, for example, she really kills it. This is a powerful performance that requires Curran to directly compete against people like Rebecca Ferguson when it comes to attitude and charisma and she nails it. She is such an enjoyable character who goes beyond nearly all other child performances and characters in a movie like this truly being able to shine and carry scenes on her own which is extremely impressive.
The actual production design is also really impressive especially when we get into the third actor creating some sets that sent literal chills down my spine. The quality of the visual effects is mixed, there is plenty of CGI that looks really incredible and high quality but then there will be effects that look really bad. Whenever they try to digitally alter a face such as the actors at the beginning to try and make it seem like we pick up right where we left off in The Shining with Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd it looks pretty terrible. Some of the actual editing also comes off as quite cheesy and out of place. The main positive of the actual technical sides would be the cinematography by Michael Fimognari. Now sadly there is basically no chance this gets awards recognization but some of these shots are really incredible. The changes of perspective are really hard to pull off and make a competent looking shot with so many moving elements but Fimognari really does kill it.
Overall Doctor Sleep is far from my favorite movie of the but man did the third act of the movie work for me. This felt like a good horror movie with elements of The Shining sewed in for no real reason but then the third act hits finally exploring the character of Danny Torrance showing that there is an interesting story to tell with him, we just don't really get that until the very end. The only issue I see people who are fans of The Shining really having with this movie is that it does give a concrete answer to what happened in that original movie, so much of the narrative around The Shining has been built around conspiracy theories and questions about what actually happened at the Overlook and this movie does specifically builds from one answer to that question which might frustrate some. As a movie though, this is a perfectly fine horror movie that like I said really gets going despite a slower more basic start.
Overall Doctor Sleep is far from my favorite movie of the but man did the third act of the movie work for me. This felt like a good horror movie with elements of The Shining sewed in for no real reason but then the third act hits finally exploring the character of Danny Torrance showing that there is an interesting story to tell with him, we just don't really get that until the very end. The only issue I see people who are fans of The Shining really having with this movie is that it does give a concrete answer to what happened in that original movie, so much of the narrative around The Shining has been built around conspiracy theories and questions about what actually happened at the Overlook and this movie does specifically builds from one answer to that question which might frustrate some. As a movie though, this is a perfectly fine horror movie that like I said really gets going despite a slower more basic start.