I have seen two Stephen King film adaptations this year, Pet Sematary and It: Chapter Two, and none of them have been good, but I figured why stop now. Doctor Sleep proves that third time is a charm. Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep managed to strike the balance between Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick’s notoriously conflicting visions of The Shining to produce an utterly absorbing horror flick that balances terror and humor by constantly keeping every character off balance regarding who has the upper hand in every scene without having the burden of the sequel curse: constantly being compared to and found wanting in comparison to its predecessor.
Doctor Sleep stars woke bae Ewan McGregor as the adult Danny Torrance who is struggling to live well after the events of The Shining. Kyliegh Curran, in her acting debut, plays Abra, a biracial black little girl who is powerful like he was as a child, and she connects him back to the world of monsters that he has desperately tried to escape except he never met these particular, beautiful monsters. Rebecca Ferguson plays Rose the Hat, their leader, and they are looking for anyone with powers, especially Abra. Will Danny continue to hide his light under a bushel or will he shine?
I loved Doctor Sleep. The opening scene which establishes how the young Danny was able to at least seem functional was a great teaser to show how the future conflict with Abra and the monsters will play out. I loved how Flanagan and McGregor then later Curran show that even though these people are unquestionably innocents, victims and the good guys, it explores the full implications of those who wield a lot of power, have faced the worst things in the world and still survived. There is something fundamentally terrifying and other about them which does not prevent us from rooting for them, but Flanagan never lets us forget that they resemble the monsters more than we would like to think. It was a long time ago since I read King’s sequel, but I think that neither he nor Flanagan intended to tease a possible sequel to Doctor Sleep, but there is room for one given the fact that those with the shining, when forced to fight back, could develop a remorseless taste and a skill at stopping monsters. I feel as if their powers have expanded in this movie more than the original source material or Kubrick’s vision. This story is solid and riveting. I did not even mind that the shining folks and monsters were running laps around the real world catching up to the mayhem left in their wake because otherwise a couple of elements in the story would not have made sense.
Doctor Sleep also addresses death and trauma in a way that while not as sophisticated as our French brethren is still miles ahead of most American films and was kind of unexpected in a horror film. Flanagan compares and contrasts images of death depending on if they are rooted in fear or peace. Flanagan and King imply that addiction is spurred on by trauma, which is just another name for fear of death, a moment that got us in touch with our mortality before our time and made us run screaming in the opposite direction. When characters die in this film, even if we don’t know them or even if they are monsters, it feels consequential. The stakes are high in this film because the impact is rooted in reality. Valar morghulis.
When I heard that Doctor Sleep was two hours thirty-one minutes long, I thought that was unnecessary, but the time went by quickly, and I actually would not mind seeing it again. You don’t need to watch The Shining immediately before seeing this film though you do need to at least have seen it once in your lifetime, but I definitely would not mind seeing it again and rewatching Doctor Sleep. I actually think that rewatching Kubrick’s film immediately before this film could possibly hurt the film because it is easier to work with a faded memory than a more accurate one.
Flanagan does an amazing job pacing and pays homage to one of the greats, John Carpenter, in knowing the value of establishing a threat before wreaking havoc both visually and narratively. Everyone gets character development and are complete people, including the monsters. He never rushes for all the different elements to come together so when they finally do, Doctor Sleep feels satisfying, not redundant. He also shares a sensibility with M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense by finding tender moments in the midst of the hurly burly to connect to the characters’ humanity and genuine emotion, which allows the viewer to connect to their own instead of just giving in to the bloodthirsty formula of horror movies that make us forget that theoretically real people are being mowed down.
I really liked the audio and/or the soundtrack. I realized that I was super tense in a scene that clearly didn’t call for it then became conscious of the steady, relentless pulse of the movie pushing me forward to anticipate when the shoe would drop. The cast was perfect. I’m not sure if it was acting and/or a combination of makeup and Hollywood magic, but there was a moment when McGregor looked like he could be related to Jack Nicholson. No offense to Nicholson and Sherry Duvall, but there is no way that if those two people combined their genes that a gorgeous specimen like McGregor would pop out, and yet I saw it. Ferguson and Zahn McClarnon were enrapturing as the villains. Ferguson reminded me of Jessalyn Gilsig, whom I love. Both sides of the conflict were populated with a diverse cast, and that fact was not addressed in the story, but was simply a given, which I loved.
The only way that Doctor Sleep could have done a better job is if they had Marvel or Terminator money, were able to convince a few members from the cast of Kubrick’s The Shining to resume their roles then de-age them for their scenes in this sequel. These new actors have to play well known icons with very distinct faces and personalities, which is a Herculean task that they did their best and mostly succeeded at executing, but Carl Lumbly, who plays Dick Halloran, may have managed to somehow surpass Scatman Crothers’ performance. Lumbly just has that emotional gift to touch your heart immediately whether it is in Supergirl or This Is Us.
When Doctor Sleep does spend its money on CGI, it is terrific, specifically in the way that it depicts the characters’ powers or illustrates their encounters on the astral plane. When I saw the preview, and it shows Danny sliding to the wall as his floor tilts, I was prepared to scoff, but it works and makes sense in context. Flanagan isn’t afraid of using gore, but he uses it judiciously, and it is generally tasteful.
If you love Stephen King films, definitely watch Doctor Sleep. Children are brutally murdered. The cat lives. If that combination works for you, then you shouldn’t have a problem enjoying it.
