Film Review: Doctor Sleep

Would it be hyperbolic for me to say that Mike Flanagan is not only one of the best horror directors out there, he is straight up one of the best filmmakers working today period? Cause that’s how I felt when I got out of his latest film, Doctor Sleep, which is an adaptation of the Stephen King book of the same name that is significant due to it acting as a follow up to The Shining. The film, which Flanagan wrote and directed, takes an approach that is able to utilize elements that made both the original Shining book and the much beloved Stanley Kubrick film so special, all while making it feel very much his own.

Doctor Sleep follows Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor), who is now a recovering alcoholic decades after the events of the Overlook Hotel. He works at a hospice where he uses his shining as a way to give the dying patients a peaceful moment before they pass. Things turn upside down when he is thrust into a journey that involves a young girl, Abra (Kyliegh Curran), who has the strongest shining abilities anyone has ever seen, which makes her the target of a cult known as the True Knot, led by Rose The Hat (Rebecca Ferguson), who feed on the souls – or “steam” – of people, mostly children, who shine like Dan and Abra. Dan decides to help keep Abra safe, while also confronting the demons of his past.

I’ve long championed the works of Mike Flanagan ever since I saw Oculus in the theater, and I’ve seen everything he’s made from his scrappy first indie, Absentia, to his sprawling Netflix series, The Haunting Of Hill House. Everything he has done has ranged from good to great in my book, and Doctor Sleep easily stands among the best of an already great bunch. I do think, however, your reaction to Doctor Sleep will feel heavily dependent on what baggage you bring to it, in regards to your connection with the books and movies it’s drawing from. Speaking only for me, I haven’t read King’s books, but Kubrick’s film is one of my all-time favorites.

That said, Doctor Sleep is no The Shining, but that’s fine because it’s not trying to be. Despite evoking Kubrick’s aesthetic at times, it’s almost an entirely different genre, theming, and storytelling style. The claustrophobic chills of The Shining is not really present here, and instead, Doctor Sleep acts more like an epic thriller that spans jumps through years and multiple locations and characters. It’s grand, operatic at times, and yet, it follows through with characters and certain plot details of The Shining in a way that serves as thoughtful follow up and closure. Sure, a follow up that that nobody asked for, but this is about a perfect a sequel you could get for one of the greatest horror films ever made.

Thematically, Mike Flanagan touches on some ideas he’s explored previously in stuff like Oculus and The Haunting Of Hill House, the main one being how one copes with trauma. Doctor Sleep is very much about pain, how it lingers with you over time, the ways it can manifest itself like in Dan’s alcohol addiction, and how one can try and cope and learn to live with it. The film takes its time covering Dan’s journey from being a total drunken wreck to being someone who is sober and trying to hold it together before he runs into Abra and the True Knot. Despite having things finally be fine on the surface, the fact that he is holding so much within him and his mind shows us that he hasn’t fully reckoned with his past, and it’s only in dealing with that can he truly find peace. There will be some who see some of the Shining nods and character returns as fan service, and to a degree it certainly is, but it’s all done with a purpose, with a focus on character, especially with Dan, and the journey he has to take for himself, which requires it to involve characters and locations we’ve seen before in the Kubrick film.

Those nuances aside, it’s hard to resist Flanagan’s skills as a craftsman. He’s working with a lot of his regular crew including cinematographer, Michael Fimognari, and composers, the Newton Brothers, all of whom do excellent work in capturing the essence of the Kubrick film, but also building an atmosphere that is wholly unique. Like with his other work, Flanagan also serves as his own editor, which is as impressive as it has ever been. Not only does he use cross-cutting between different time periods, locations, and perspectives in a way that is clear and impactful, but he makes the slightly over two-and-a-half hour ride one that goes by without a dull moment.

The cast is also wonderful all around. McGregor is wonderful as the broken man trying to pull himself together. Even in moments without dialogue, his eyes convey so much weariness and vulnerability. Curran is an absolute treasure, delivering a confident debut performance as someone with gifted abilities seeking some form of acceptance and reassurance in a dangerous and confusing world. Ferguson is fantastic as the sinister and seductive villain, which also lends her the room to be more fun and charismatic in her delivery. On top of that, you have a great supporting cast that includes the likes of the always reliable Cliff Curtis, Bruce Greenwood, Jacob Tremblay, Carl Lumbly, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind. Plus, a special shoutout to Henry Thomas and Alex Essoe, both of whom are perfectly cast as returning characters from The Shining that I won’t spoil here because it’s just too good of a surprise when you finally see them.

In case it doesn’t seem obvious enough, I was absolutely floored by Doctor Sleep. It’s a masterfully crafted film that takes an audacious approach in following up The Shining, and takes you on a ride that engages you from beginning to end. Admittedly, given the nature of The Shining’s legacy, this will in no way satisfy everybody. If you are more precious about certain elements of that film, then you might not like the way this film answers and connects with them. But if you go in with an open mind, I think you will find that Mike Flanagan is more than willing to go places that are more weird, more thrilling, more patient, and more moving than you might expect. Sure, if you’re just looking at it in terms of scares, The Shining remains untouchable in terms of visceral dread, but Doctor Sleep still manages to be effectively creepy in its own right, keeping an underlying feeling of terror and profound sadness, which is anchored by a sense of hope that one day you can learn to move on from even the darkest chapters of your life.