DOCTOR SLEEP (2019) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

doctor sleep (2019) movie

Genre              |   Horror Thriller

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   152 minutes

Released         |   7 November 2019

cast

Rebecca Ferguson ... Rose the Hat
Ewan McGregor ... Danny Torrance
Jacob Tremblay
Zahn McClarnon ... Crow Daddy
Bruce Greenwood ... Dr. John
Carel Struycken ... Grandpa. Flick
Emily Alyn Lind ... Snakebite Andi
Jocelin Donahue ... Lucy
Nicholas Pryor ... Eddie
​Carl Lumbly ... Dick Halloran

director

​Mike Flanagan

writer

​Stephen King ... (based on the novel by)
 
Mike Flanagan ... (writer)

cinematographer

Michael Fimognari

music

​The Newton Brothers

film editor

​Mike Flanagan

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box office result

Worldwide               $​72,381,712

Australia                 $​1,300,000

North America        $​31,581,712

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movie minutiae

Stephen King first got the idea for DOCTOR SLEEP in 1998 at a book signing when somebody asked him what happened to Danny. This was a question King had often asked himself as well as what would have happened to Jack Torrance had he found AA. King started thinking about how old Danny was and where Wendy was now and decided to find the answers with a sequel. But it was a tall order.

​Ewan McGregor, Dan Stevens, Chris Evans, Matt Smith and Jeremy Renner were considered and have met with the director for the lead role. McGregor ended up being cast, with Stephen King's blessing.

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movie minutiae

THE SHINING (1980)

DOCTOR SLEEP (2019) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

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DOCTOR SLEEP (2019) STORY SYNOPSIS

DOCTOR SLEEP continues the story of Danny Torrance, 40 years after his terrifying stay at the Overlook Hotel in THE SHINING (1980). Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson and newcomer Kyliegh Curran star in the supernatural thriller, directed by Mike Flanagan, from his own screenplay based upon the novel by Stephen King.

Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “shine.” Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality.

Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before—at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.

DOCTOR SLEEP (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 7 November 2019

Pop ​Movee Rating

There must have been a temptation for the makers of DOCTOR SLEEP to indulge their inner-Kubrick and try to deliver a film that could be considered a genuine successor to the reclusive Director’s 1980 feature film adaptation of Stephen King’s hugely successful novel, THE SHINING…

It is with great relief that Writer Director Mike Flanagan has opted to focus his energies on the continuing story of Danny Torrance and adapt the 2013 Stephen King novel in a more direct fashion, leaving the obligatory Kubrick homage to the very last part of the film.

Those familiar with both literary and cinema versions of THE SHINING (1980) know they differ dramatically. Kubrick was very deliberate in the parts of King’s story that he chose to adapt and, during the film’s initial release, the author expressed disappointment with the finished product.

King, and his fans, may argue that Kubrick’s film isn’t the most literal adaptation but, in the years following THE SHINING’s (1980) release, a broad church of admirers has emerged, expressing the view that Kubrick’s work is a cinematic tour-de-force and, despite the absence of obvious tropes, the Director successfully creates a genuinely disturbing supernatural thriller.

DOCTOR SLEEP successfully taps into both King’s ability to normalise the marcarbe for the masses and also manages to recreate elements of the visceral dread Kubrick created…

Ewan McGregor plays the adult Danny Torrance, one of two survivors from the original story. When viewers last saw Danny, he was a little boy. Now, he’s an adult, in his mid-forties, but life hasn’t been kind to him. He has too much of his late father’s DNA…

Danny is troubled in many different ways. He’s an alcoholic (like his father Jack) and its leads him astray in terrible ways. When he’s first introduced in DOCTOR SLEEP, he seems to have no moral compass, at all. His actions are reprehensible and it’s hard to visualise him as the hero that viewers might expect him to be later in the film.

This is one of the clever tricks Mike Flanagain plays on the audience…

Danny is no hero. He’s an everyman, who, at first, is way down on luck. The only luck he gets is when he has the good sense to get on a bus and get off in a small New Hampshire town. Upon his arrival, he meets Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis), who helps Danny get back on his feet and establish a life for himself.

Danny gets a break from Dr.John (Bruce Greenwood), his Alcoholics Anonymous group moderator, who offers him a job as an orderly at the local aged care facility. It’s here that Danny puts his “shine” to good use, helping the elderly meet their end with dignity. 

Elsewhere, a “woman”, Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) and her band of followers indulge in the most heinous acts…

Danny and Rose are destined to meet.

Flanagan never gets bogged down in the exposition of attempting to explain Rose or her “True Knot” clan, but they seem most comparable to vampires. Instead of blood-sucking, Rose sucks the soul out of her victims; people who “shine”; like Danny. The stronger they “shine”, the more life force the “True Knot” get. Children are especially good, as their pain is always the greatest!

It’s not hard to see the justification for the film’s MA 15+ rating.

One sequence, halfway through the film, is deeply disturbing…

Her character may be evil, but Rebecca Ferguson is the highlight of DOCTOR SLEEP. Like Jack Nicholson thirty-nine years ago, Ferguson’s screen presence elevates the film to a different level. She doesn’t channel Nicholson’s mania, but her femininity makes her an appealing temptress capable of all manner of crimes.

She’s sensual…

She’s cunning…

She’s manipulative…

Yet, somehow, too much doesn’t seem to be quite enough.

Ferguson delivers a high quality performance that drives the film’s plot right up to the point where Flanagan can, comfortably and justifiably, place all of his main characters at The Overlook Hotel at the one time.

Mention must also go to young Kyliegh Curran, who plays Abra Stone.

Like Danny, Abra “shines”, but even stronger than Danny.

Her power and youth make her a target for Rose and the “True Knot”. 

Curran plays the character with authority and she never allows her performance to become child-like. She responds to challenges as a young adult and, as the film progresses, her confidence in her powers increases to the point where she’s comfortable to take matters into her own hands.

Two scenes stand out as a testament to her character…

At one point, while driving along the vast stretches of the American midwest, Abra has a chance to call her mother to let her know she’s alright. She tells her mother she loves her, hangs up and throws her smartphone out the window of the car. She tells Danny to make sure he calls her mother to let her know the outcome of their final confrontation with Rose.

It highlights just how matter-of-fact she is in her approach to the challenge before her. She doesn’t want the authorities to track her, intervene and, in the process, allow Rose to kill her or Danny.

A second scene, soon after,  reinforces this resolve.

Upon arriving at The Overlook Hotel, Danny tells her to stay in the car. 

She does, but not for very long…

If DOCTOR SLEEP was entirely reliant upon Kubrick’s THE SHINING, it would wear out its welcome pretty quickly. At 152 minutes, a “trip down memory lane” would have felt like having to watch your grandparents slideshow of their World Tour just after you’ve got off a twenty-hour flight from your own six month World Tour…

Thankfully, Mike Flanagan understands that it’s nice to look at old photos occasionally, but seeing new places is a lot more interesting and that’s certainly the approach he takes with this film. The settings are far more expansive and numerous than THE SHINING, so there’s never quite the sense of impending dread created by The Overlook’s isolation. 

Flanagan manages to create a different sort of dread. One that confirms that bad things can happen to people no matter where they are...

Flanagan proved with GERALD’S GAME (2017) that he had the skill to handle a Stephen King adaptation; which has not been the easiest feat to achieve over the years in the filmmaking realm. 

He’s also got a very solid reputation as a Writer and Film Editor.

He has put all of these skills to very good use in DOCTOR SLEEP, making a sequel that warrants its existence and, like Kubrick did with THE SHINING, delivering a genuinely good supernatural thriller that disturbs without sensationalising itself by way of the usual Horror genre tropes.

DOCTOR SLEEP MOVIE (2019) USEFUL LINKS

Doctor Sleep (2019 film) - Wikipedia
Doctor Sleep (2019) - IMDb
​Doctor Sleep (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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