'Doctor Sleep' Review: A Less Psyhological and More Fantastical Sequel

Mike Flanagan brings back the horrors of The Shining's Overlook Hotel in a less psychological and more fantastical way. But at first, Doctor Sleep almost seems like a complete adieu to the Stanley Kubrick classic where one might find himself wondering about what has happened since. Until the horrors finally creep in and end up to where it all began in what seems like revisiting an old familiar museum to those who have experienced it--both Danny Torrance and the audience.

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

Doctor Sleep is a Stephen King adaptation first, though, which explains why it looks like a complete 180-degree tumble from the film, which is arguably the more famous one. What makes it quite different from the first is the introduction of new characters, particularly the vampiresque group, the True Knot, led by the hippie and wicked-looking Rose the Hat, alluringly emulated by Rebecca Ferguson. They hunt humans with an extrasensory gift also known as the 'shine' that are reminiscent of mutants. They prey on their pain and their souls. Thus, Danny (Ewan McGregor) and his third-eye counts. It doesn't hurt that he's still enduring the trauma from all the happenings at the Overlook that continuously haunt him wherever he may go. Until he met Abra (Kyliegh Curran) through their 'shines' and found themselves allies against Rose and her followers in their quest for immortality.

The first two hours patiently set up the True Knot's agenda while switching back and forth between what has become of Danny or Dan, and his telepathic connection with Abra. It jumps between several U.S. states as these characters travel to survive but its restlessness, especially in its plot, never confuses nor bores. Instead, it expands the claustrophobic limitations of The Shining by injecting fantasy via interesting and ballsy choices by Flanagan. At one point, we see Rebecca Ferguson flying like a witch in a scene a la Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried in First Reformed, watching the Earth, looking for her shiny victims. It's these Mike Flanagan's touches that make Doctor Sleep entertaining and not just your run-of-the-mill horror adaptation.

But as aforementioned, it's not a complete farewell to its source. The Overlook itself is a character. It also shines, as we know it. And after two hours of being absent on our screen, Overlook gets its grand return even if it's now completely creaky and abandoned. The last thirty minutes or so, not gonna lie, are terrifying but also very exciting. Dan, with his inner superpower through his shine, wakes the hotel up. Seemingly unafraid, he walks along the carpeted halls, passing by the 'redrum' room, inserting his head on the "Here's Johnny" axed-destroyed door, reliving all his childhood nightmares from all the corners of the hotel. It's not as lively as Steven Spielberg's revisit in Ready Player One, but Flanagan effectively rekindles Kubrick's dread even if some of the flashbacks, where he refused to insert original clips from The Shining, pale in comparison.

If there's anything to nitpick, it's probably its cheesy dialogue. Albeit it's inevitable given the source that they're Stephen King's words. Yet it's easy to ignore because it's entertaining from start to finish despite its slow formulation. Not to mention the actors, most especially Ferguson, who made it easy to make the new characters known.