Doctor Sleep
Directed by: Mike Flanagan
Runtime: 152 minutes
I still remember how I felt when I watched The Shining only a few years ago. It was a torturously methodical film, so well-crafted to keep you in this constant state of unease; similar to the feeling you get when you’re anticipating a scare. But… no scares came. Instead, my stomach tied up in knots, my heart raced and anxious energy ran through my veins. I wanted to be scared so I could release this feeling, but The Shining wouldn’t let me. To me, that’s the genius and the horror of The Shining. I was expecting to get a similar experience with Doctor Sleep, but instead, it opted to tell a more personal story.
Doctor Sleep takes place immediately after the events of The Shining. Danny and Wendy have escaped the Overlook Hotel. However, the ghosts of the hotel have followed Danny, relentlessly tormenting him for the rest of his life. We flash forward to an older Danny, who is in a heavy downward spiral of alcohol and drug abuse thanks to these insufferable spirits. Dan tries to go for a fresh start, and in the process, he manages to connect with other people who share his psychic powers; a young girl named Abra, and a hippy convoy that travels across America to kidnap and murder psychic children to steal their essence. Dan and Abra decide to team up and take out these hippies, but they need a plan to do so. That plan eventually leads them back to the infamous Overlook Hotel.
I love the personal journey that Dan goes on throughout the film. His dive into alcoholism mimics the struggles his father Jack had that were eluded to in the original film. He tries so hard to not become the man that his father became, fighting his inner demons so that he cannot be consumed by the hotel. It’s great to see Dan go on this journey, and it’s performed beautifully well by Ewan McGregor.
Admittedly, I wasn’t a fan of the film’s main antagonists, the True Knot cult. The film reveals a lot about them very early on, so the mystery of who they are and what they’re doing is lost. They didn’t particularly feel threatening either. They were intimidating at times, Rose especially, but otherwise I thought they were fairly uninteresting characters. They also give off a strange, sexual predator vibe—especially when they’re taking the essence (they call it steam, but I think that’s a dumb name) out of children. It just felt a little awkward and off-putting. By all means, these characters didn’t ruin my time with Doctor Sleep, they just felt like a weaker element of the film.
Eventually, we come to the final act, where Dan returns to the Overlook Hotel and the nostalgia kicks into overdrive. Dan takes us on a walking tour of the hotel to revisit the film’s most iconic set pieces. As Dan walks these hallowed halls to face his fears, we walk with him to face the same horrors that scared us in The Shining many years ago. His nightmares are our nightmares. The entire last act of Doctor Sleep is fantastic to watch, and it doesn’t feel like a contrived effort to profit off the nostalgia of the original film. It fits the plot very well and it’s a very satisfying payoff.
Doctor Sleep didn’t end up creating the same feeling of constant stomach-churning dread The Shining did for me, but admittedly, it wasn’t trying to do so. Instead, the story focuses on using elements from The Shining to tell a more personal story. I developed a theory as I was watching this that the true antagonist of the film is the ‘shine’ itself; akin to how the hotel was in the original movie. Every character is tormented and manipulated by these powers in their own unique ways. I think Doctor Sleep is at its most entertaining when it explores the impact that the ‘shine’ has on characters personally and implications that come along with using such strong powers. If you liked The Shining, then you’re most likely already going to watch this, and you won’t be disappointed. If you haven’t seen it, while there’s still some enjoyment to be had, the final act may be a little lost on you.
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