Doctor Sleep is a partially entertaining sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror classic The Shining. Written and directed by Mike Flanagan (of Oculus, Gerald's Game, Ouija 2, and Hush),the film appears to be a weird blend of his atmospheric film-making style (which I love) and King's (mostly awkward) horror fantasies. I watched the 3-hour long director's cut of the film. As the run-time already reveals, it's a slow-burn psychological horror flick that doesn't rely too much on nostalgia from The Shining. Well, for the most part, it doesn't.

Ewan Mcgregor plays the adult Danny Torrance, who in the present day, has tried his best to move on from the nightmarish incidents that took place at the Overlook Hotel. The film, according to King, stays faithful to the novel a lot more than Kubrick's version ever did. I think this has worked both in favor of and against it. For starters, even with all its eerie atmosphere amid the modern-day setting, it doesn't give you the chills that The Shining did. There's no Jack Nicholson-level savagery in the film that makes your pupils dilate or scares that make your hair stand up.

That being said, I'm glad Flanagan didn't choose to add frequent jumpscares and water down the atmosphere he tries to build. On the other hand, it was really difficult for me to buy into Rebecca Ferguson's Rose the Hat as a compelling antagonist. She's ravishing in the initial scene where she lures a child into her witch-trap, but in the latter hours, her character ends up looking too vulnerable. I wasn't fond of that notion at all. I still stand by Hitchcock's rule that a stronger antagonist creates a stronger film.

Kyliegh Curran is essentially the new Danny Torrance here, minus the daddy issues. She handles her role of Abra Stone, a little 'shiner', with ease. Being a sequel to the cult-classic, I enjoyed how Flanagan tackled the recreation of certain imagery from The Shining, including neat references to the source material as well as Kubrick's efforts. There are both older and newer demons for Dan to fight in Doctor Sleep, and Mcgregor's version of the character does have an intentionally restrained feel to it. The sudden bursts of shock and awe in the screenplay are when the film gets engaging; otherwise, the going is too slow to care.

Doctor Sleep will not be considered a film that gives you many (or any) sleepless nights, but I was aghast on seeing how a victim of The True Knot cult (the one led by Rose the Hat) was subjected to a slow and painful death. Flanagan and King want you to understand how evil works here more than trying to scare you upfront. As a cinematic effort, Doctor Sleep falls somewhere in between. I think that look on the face of Shelley Duvall when being followed by a deranged, axe-wielding Jack Nicholson sends greater shivers down my spine as compared to anything that I witnessed in Doctor Sleep.

Great job Mike Flanagan.

I don't know what's going on with movies lately, I have high expectations and films suck, or in this case, my expectations were fairly low, and I was blown away.

What a truly worthy follow up to The Shining this was. Almost forty years on, it captures the tone, spirit and vibe of that great film.

You'd think at over two and a half hours it would be overlong, it isn't,that running time allows the complex story to be told, and for the characters to be fully developed.

Young Kyleigh Curran is remarkably good, and in great company with Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson, very well acted.

A great start, with that amazing music, and those glorious panoramic shots. It takes time before you arrive at that destination, the one we all waited for. The recreation is remarkable.

All those involved, take a bow, this was outstanding, 9/10.

As a massive fan of THE SHINING (1980),the recent sequel DOCTOR SLEEP (2019) has been on my radar for a while, and I've finally had a chance to catch up with the director's cut version now showing on Amazon Prime. I should add that there are going to be spoilers ahead. I was bitterfly disappointed with this one, in much the same way that the recent IT: CHAPTER TWO let me down; it's a film that seems to be basic and bland throughout, and most important it doesn't have any frightening moments at all, unlike the Kubrick movie. The biggest problem with it is the running time, and I wonder if I'd have enjoyed the theatrical cut more. At three hours this just goes on and on, and I kept thinking "wouldn't this have been a better place to start?" and later, "no, this would have been". This went on to around the hour and a half mark! I think the scene with the baseball kid would have been the perfect opening - it's an powerful and disturbing moment, the best of the film - and everything before feels extraneous.

The rest is a mixed bag of good and bad. The acting is generally good, particularly on the part of Kyliegh Curran, very good at appearing older than her years. McGregor underplays it but that's fine, he's reactive character here. The one exception in the acting stakes is Rebecca Ferguson as the villain of the piece, I couldn't stand her. Not because I found her scary, just the opposite: she's overexposed and irritating, more hipster chick than menace. She talks a lot but seems to totally miss the mark when it comes to being imposing. The bad guys are in general a let down, feeling like a simple copy of the vamps in NEAR DARK, except with that "psychic vampire" twist which was handled better (and in a scarier way) in an old episode of BUCK ROGERS I once saw. Plenty of CGI here, of course, ranging from the decent (the 'flying' scenes were pretty cool, as was the Overlook Hotel recreation) to cheesy BUFFY-style vampire deaths. And then there's the extended climax, just a crowd-pleasing way of adding in as many SHINING references as possible, but in a modern-feeling, slick and superficial way. I should be glad that this is better than the director's other King film, the awful GERALD'S GAME, but even so it's not one I'll be revisiting for the reasons stated.