Doctor Sleep

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

The film adaptation of Stephen King’s 2013 novel, Doctor Sleep, left screenwriter and director Mike Flanagan with the seemingly impossible task of re-writing canon to satisfy both versions of the film’s predecessor The Shining. Tasked with following in the footsteps of controversial but talented director of The Shining, Stanley Kubrick, and the established mythology Stephen King cemented in his novels The Shining and Doctor Sleep, Flanagan managed to reconcile four slightly different, albeit intersecting stories. Mike Flanagan is no stranger to imaginative adaptations – most recently demonstrated by his acclaimed Netflix series “The Haunting of Hill House,” but it’s refreshing to see that he is versatile in his storytelling and able to translate his unique vision on both the big and small screens. Doctor Sleep is a stunning dark fantasy that follows the life of a grown Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) trying to escape the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook Hotel – and failing miserably. The film transcends the archetypal mindlessness of modern horror and blends gritty realism with preternatural fright to create a moving, breathtaking and, yes, scary experience for audiences.

Doctor Sleep sets the scene for Danny Torrance’s life in a brief prologue that shows him and his mother Wendy (Alex Essoe) recovering from the haunting events that transpired in the Overlook Hotel back in the late seventies. Danny is still haunted by the ghosts of the Overlook, namely the naked bathtub ghost. However, with the help of his Shining mentor Dick (Carl Lumbly) he is able to lock them away in boxes within his mind. Life goes on for Danny and when we meet him next he’s on the tail end of a coke/booze bender (following in his father’s footsteps) and going by the name of Dan. He finds himself rolling off the mattress away from a one-night stand and realizes something needs to change. He hops on a bus to New Hampshire and encounters the good-natured Billy (Cliff Curtis), a former alcoholic who helps Dan get on the straight and narrow. Through his recovery from alcoholism and the associated acknowledgment of his childhood trauma, Dan takes on a job at a hospice facility. With the help of a fluffy cat named Azzie, who can sense when patients are about to pass away, Dan embraces his “shining” and provides comfort to patients as they pass over into the other side. These scenes come early on in the film,but bring a certain humanity to a story that will soon become inundated with supernatural creatures.

As Dan learns to accept more of himself and his gifts, he allows himself to become spiritual penpals with a young and similarly gifted young woman named Abra (Kyliegh Curran). They communicate first through exchanging messages on the blackboard wall of Dan’s rented room, but as danger looms near their communication becomes more direct. You see the world, as Dan learned as a young boy, is a hungry place full of hungry people and hungrier things. We then meet a vagabond tribe of creatures called The True Knot, led by the beautiful and sinister Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) – who are able to achieve immortality through sucking the lifeforce out of children gifted with the shining. Members of The True Knot are soul sucking, vapid creatures who kidnap, torture and devour children so they can remain young, beautiful and powerful. One night Abra accidentally pays a psychic visit to The True Knot feeding events and watches as they brutalize and consume a young boy (Jacob Tremblay). This sets off a chain of events that forces Dan and Abra together so they can defeat The True Knot.

Abra pleas for Dan’s help after watching Rose and her fellow fiends commit their atrocities, but it takes some convincing. Unfortunately, while Abra took it upon herself to track the True Knot down their own shining abilities allowed them to track her, too.  The cyclical pursuit of True Knot and Abra is where Flanagan’s ability to create compelling characters projects through. Rose the Hat is beautiful, yes, but she’s so damn bad that you can’t help but cheer when Abra maims her. Abra is brilliantly portrayed as a mischievous but kind-hearted teenager who wants to save the world while also really enjoying hurting the bad guys. Dan is just trying his best – honestly. And viewers will love him for it even if he’s often overshadowed by the film’s powerhouse women.  The intersection of these three characters’ storylines comes to a climax when Dan and Abra lure Rose to The Overlook for the last stand. In a world like this one there’s always a beast hungrier than the last. In this case, the Overlook is the apex predator and Dan’s counting on it to be starved.

Doctor Sleep is as much of an emotional rollercoaster as it is a dark thrill ride; a pattern in Flanagan’s work…and he should be thanked for it time and time again. This film blends source material with other imaginings and still manages to differentiate itself when it easily could have assimilated to match Kubrick’s style or even King’s narrative and that’s what makes it so good. The final act, of course, will packed with Easter eggs and devilish delights from The Shining. Flanagan paid homage to the film that made Doctor Sleep possible with recreations of classic scenes, inserting Dan into the shoes of his father one last time. The Overlook still feeds on adult Dan, but it’s a trip down memory lane that he needs to take to truly self-actualize and rid himself of the frigid demons that followed him home from that Colorado hotel. Flanagan creates parallels, tips his hat to King and Kubrick fans and still manages to make it all make sense. He doesn’t waste screen time – each frame is to tell a story whether that be emotional or primal in its sense of fear and urgency. At the end of it all, you don’t have to be a horror fan to love Doctor Sleep. You just have to be someone trying to survive in a world that’s trying to eat you alive and you’ll know…this one’s for you.