Years following the events of Shining (1980), a now-adult Dan Torrance must protect a young girl with similar powers from a cult known as The True Knot, who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.
When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.
Director:
Leigh Whannell
Stars:
Elisabeth Moss,
Oliver Jackson-Cohen,
Harriet Dyer
A couple travels to Scandinavia to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
Director:
Ari Aster
Stars:
Florence Pugh,
Jack Reynor,
Vilhelm Blomgren
On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless-mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the "steam" that children with the "shining" produce when they are slowly tortured to death. Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father's legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant "shining" power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes "Doctor Sleep." Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan's own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra's soul...Written by
Stephen King
Dan refers to Doctor John as "Doc," which was his own childhood nickname. See more »
Goofs
When Dan returns to the room his family stayed in at the Overlook, he sees the bathroom door Jack hacked open with the axe and puts his face in the axed open panel, recreating the iconic "Here's Johnny" shot. However, in The Shining, Jack was shown to have hacked both upper panels open to try and get to Wendy, not just the one. See more »
While I don't consider it a masterpiece, I did enjoy the classic Kubrick rendition of The Shining, and I understand why it has the fan base it does. Seeing the trailer for Doctor Sleep and discovering Ewan McGregor was playing an adult Danny Torrance, I thought the concept might be interesting.
Everyone acts fantastic in this film. I thought Ewan McGregor built a very nice character. If I had imagined how Danny might have turned out after the first film ended, I don't think I would have predicted it much different. There are a few intense moments with the villains (Primarily Rose the Hat and Snakebite Andi) that made me absolutely hate them (which is a good thing). I think the things they do in the film would make anyone want them to see a terrible fate.
I found myself smiling at the call-backs to the classic movie, and when Danny returns to the Overlook Hotel. It's been a while since I've said to myself "Oh wow, there it is" that many times at a film. I will say there are a couple scenes at the Overlook that feel like they were written in to make the fan base happy rather than be part of the story, but nothing that drags on too long.
As far as it being a scary film, you may jump a few times, and some scenes are a little disturbing, but by Stephen King standards, it's more of a suspense film.
An advantage I'll give this film over The Shining is that even though the film is two and a half hours, it doesn't get boring. Not that The Shining was boring, but it is a very slow film. Stanley Kubrick loved to throw in very long shots in his films, and while I personally think they worked sometimes, other times they were excessive, and in The Shining, they were excessive to me.
I think this film is at least worth a watch whether you're a fan of the Kubrick film or not, because it's sort of it's own film in a way. It shows enough of the classic film to have a connection, but also has a story different enough and good enough to hold it's own.
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While I don't consider it a masterpiece, I did enjoy the classic Kubrick rendition of The Shining, and I understand why it has the fan base it does. Seeing the trailer for Doctor Sleep and discovering Ewan McGregor was playing an adult Danny Torrance, I thought the concept might be interesting.
Everyone acts fantastic in this film. I thought Ewan McGregor built a very nice character. If I had imagined how Danny might have turned out after the first film ended, I don't think I would have predicted it much different. There are a few intense moments with the villains (Primarily Rose the Hat and Snakebite Andi) that made me absolutely hate them (which is a good thing). I think the things they do in the film would make anyone want them to see a terrible fate.
I found myself smiling at the call-backs to the classic movie, and when Danny returns to the Overlook Hotel. It's been a while since I've said to myself "Oh wow, there it is" that many times at a film. I will say there are a couple scenes at the Overlook that feel like they were written in to make the fan base happy rather than be part of the story, but nothing that drags on too long.
As far as it being a scary film, you may jump a few times, and some scenes are a little disturbing, but by Stephen King standards, it's more of a suspense film.
An advantage I'll give this film over The Shining is that even though the film is two and a half hours, it doesn't get boring. Not that The Shining was boring, but it is a very slow film. Stanley Kubrick loved to throw in very long shots in his films, and while I personally think they worked sometimes, other times they were excessive, and in The Shining, they were excessive to me.
I think this film is at least worth a watch whether you're a fan of the Kubrick film or not, because it's sort of it's own film in a way. It shows enough of the classic film to have a connection, but also has a story different enough and good enough to hold it's own.