Doctor Sleep (2019 film)
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 After thirty-nine years of The Shining... We got a sequel to it.
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Doctor Sleep is a 2019 American film directed and edited by Mike Flanagan. It is based off of the 2013 Stephen King novel of the same name. It is a sequel to King's 1977 novel The Shining and the 1980 film of the same name. The film (which also serves as a sequel to The Shining, and was directed by the late Stanley Kubrick) is set decades later after the events of what happened in the original novel.
Plot
After the events of The Shining, Danny Torrance (portrayed by Ewan McGregor) is still traumatized by the events that happened in the Overlook Hotel when he was a child. His hope for peace soon becomes broken when he meets Abra, a teen girl who shares the same extrasensory gift of the "shine" as him. Together, they start to ally to stop the True Knot, a cult whose members are trying to become immortal by feeding off of the shine of innocents.
Why It Rocks
- It stays faithful to the 2013 book it was based on.
- The characters' portrayals such as Ewan McGregor's portrayal of Danny Torrance are amazing and Rebecca Ferguson's performance as Rose the Hat is just terrifying.
- Further regarding that last statement, the characters are fantastic.
- For example, Danny Torrance has well-made character development as he started as a child who would ride his tricycle on the Overlook Hotel to become the main protagonist where he struggles with alcoholism and has to defend Abra, who is a teen girl who shares the same extrasensory as him (which is the gift of the "shine"), and survive against Rose the Hat and her cult.
- Speaking of Rose the Hat, she is also a likable and entertaining villain, as she is the leader of the True Knot, which is a cult that feeds on people who have psychic powers to stay immortal.
- Great soundtrack by The Newton Brothers as it's enough to be creepy in a good way that makes it feel like a horror soundtrack.
- The opening scene where it recaps young Danny Torrance riding on his bike at the Overlook Hotel is also a really good touch to recap the film's prequel.
- Instead of using cheap and uninteresting jumpscares that make the film feel like the clichés are lacking it, the film manages to heavily use atmospheres to try to be scary, which, does an impressive job of it. This is just like what The Shining did and manages to be interesting with it.
- Outstanding editing and directing by Mike Flanagan. The way how the film is so well-edited and directed makes it watchable enough. Even Stephen King himself appreciates him as a filmmaker.
- The Warner Bros Picture logo adapting its 80s style logo and using a creative twist is well done, especially since it could give a throwback to the 80s logo of the Warner Bros. Picture at the time.
- Because of how good the writing and directing from Mike Flanagan is, the scenes from the film manage to be horrifying, especially the nightmare scenes.
- The filming set of the Overlook Hotel is incredible and it even sets a strong resemblance to the film's prequel since most of the scenes in the prequel were shot in the Overlook Hotel.
The Only Bad Quality
- The runtime of 152 minutes, and 182 minutes (if you watch the director's cut), can make the audience feel like the pacing is a bit slow. However, the latter is even longer to get through since it's over three hours long.
Trivia
- Because the film was released in 2019, it marks the first time that two films based on novels by Stephen King from Warner Bros. Pictures were released in one year, after It Chapter Two.