Movie Review: “Doctor Sleep”

“Doctor Sleep”

Release Date: November 8, 2019

Runtime: 151 mins

Directed by: Mike Flanagan

Starring: Ewan McGregor

Rebecca Ferguson

Kyliegh Curran

Cliff Curtis

When asked his thoughts on adapting books to film, revered “Master of Suspense” Alfred Hitchcock said a great book rarely makes a great movie. A good book, or especially a mediocre one, has a much better chance of turning into a great movie. He should know, his most revered works—“Psycho,” “Vertigo,” “Rear Window”—are based on largely forgotten books and short stories.

I would argue that Stephen King’s novel, “The Shining,” falls in the latter category, and its 1980 adaptation of the same name turned an average book, maybe even a pretty good one, into an enduring masterpiece containing some of the most unforgettable and impactful images in cinema.

King notoriously hated that movie because master director Stanley Kubrick intentionally veered from the source material and did not display much respect for King. Several years ago, King was inspired to write a sequel to “The Shining.” When it came time to make the movie adaptation, director Mike Flanagan (“The Haunting of Hill House,” “Gerald’s Game”) ran into a rather large problem. Stephen King was no longer an up-and-coming but largely unknown author. He was one of the bestselling authors alive. He now had infinitely more leverage in studio deals. How can you film a sequel both to a book and the big screen adaptation which takes major liberties but which exponentially more people are familiar with?

“Doctor Sleep” follows a now grown up Danny Torrence about 40 years after the events of “The Shining.” Danny struggles with alcoholism and his traumatic past while encountering new friends and enemies who have similar mind powers to his own.

“Doctor Sleep” does not feel like a sequel at all. It has a radically different tone and plot to “The Shining.” I have never read the novel, but the movie is psychological horror at its core. There were definitely some supernatural elements, but there is plenty of room for various interpretations regarding what those things represent. Following up ‘The Shining” with “Doctor Sleep” is roughly comparable to if “Psycho” was followed by “Harry Potter.”

“Doctor Sleep” might pull this off better if the climax did not shove in all these iconic things from “The Shining”—elevator spewing blood, twins in the hallway, old hag in room 237—so they can have shots to put in the trailer so people know this is a sequel to something they like.

A more general issue I have is this movie is way too long. It is two and a half hours but felt more like three and a half. There were so many redundant scenes, and the pacing suffers heavily from this. Most of these unnecessary scenes focus on the villains doing things they have already done. I could almost tell when the movie would move on to the next chapter. Most of “Doctor Sleep” shifts focus between three different characters in different locations. I could be wrong, but it really seems like the book must have switched between the three perspectives with each chapter and the movie was just very closely following that structure.

This group of villains was pretty poorly defined. We spend so much time with them at this hippie commune where they have supposedly lived for centuries, at least. They brutally murder numerous children, but no one has ever looked into this string of missing kids hard enough to find their totally accessible hideout somehow. They harvest the screams of these children and keep them in canisters to use as energy later. Either this is a coincidence, or Stephen King was watching “Monsters Inc.” one night and thought he could copy this extremely specific plot detail, step it up from G to R and no one would notice.

The performances are varying in quality. Ewan McGregor is good as usual in the lead. Rebecca Ferguson was fine as the main villain. The main child actress is awful, though. She has a lot of screen time too.

“Doctor Sleep” employs frequent use of the jump scare. What I am talking about is the sudden, loud, high note which plays anytime something remotely unexpected happens. This is more of a personal pet peeve of mine since I am pretty jumpy and startle easily. Beyond that, though, it is generally a tired trope by now.

I liked some things in “Doctor Sleep” as well. Almost every part I enjoyed happened when I was able to forget this is supposed to be a sequel to “The Shining.” The shootout towards the end of the second act was extremely well executed, for example. I also thought some of the character development with Danny was great. It makes perfect sense he would have severe trauma given what happened in his childhood.

I am pretty confident “Doctor Sleep” follows King’s text much more faithfully than “The Shining.” Despite this, it does not reach the same level of greatness.

Drew Eckhart is a junior history and pre-law major from Edmond, OK. He has loved movies for as long as he can remember but thinks his passion really began when he watched “The Dark Knight” for the first time. His favorite type of movie blends comedy and drama seamlessly, and he loves great action films. In Drew’s free time, he enjoys reading and playing video games, as well as watching TV and movies. His favorite TV show is “BoJack Horseman” and his favorite movie is “The Graduate.”

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