Have you, perhaps, overlooked The Overlook? If you’re my age and ever said to yourself, “Gee, I wish The Shining had been longer,” well, oh boy, have I got a treat for you.
Before I go there, let me ask: how would you like to have grown up with Jack Torrance/Jack Nicholson as your father? “We’ve talked about this, Mr. Torrance … You know when you wield an axe and attack your wife and son with it, you’re not exhibiting ideal parental behavior. Perhaps, we should work on that for next session.” Of course, even when dear-old-dad didn’t chase mom around with an axe, the Overlook Hotel itself haunted young Danny Torrance, what with naked ghouls and dead twins and blood pressing all the buttons in the elevator. Stupid blood.
Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) is now a middle-aged man and trying to put the horrors of his past behind him. I would have expected the move to AA as a result of his Trainspotting behavior. One way or another, I suppose it’s nice to see McGregor getting clean. In the meantime, turns out li’l Danny wasn’t the only one with supernatural gifts. In fact, so many people have been born with superpowers that a psychic vampire Legion of Doom formed to swallow up and feed on straggling shiners.
It is important not to underestimate the vampires. I mean, you will, cuz they look like a hippie cult. And they’re led by Rose The Hat (Rebecca Ferguson), who spends her immortality by dressing as Juice Newton’s stunt double. There’s like eight of these guys and they live in the woods next to RVs, which is –apparently- how you spend eternity when you have mind control powers and eat children.
Meanwhile, Dan has cleaned himself up, and put his superpowers on the DL except when he becomes Doctor Sleep to sooth infirm patients at the old folks home … and also when he accepts psychic hotline calls from his long distance pen chalk pal, Abra (Kyliegh Curran). Abra –as in “Abracadabra,” get it?- has the shiniest shining reservoir of shiny shine in the world, so it’s only a matter of time before Juice and the Newtons find her. Can Dan find her first? And what is with all The Shining references?
Doctor Sleep moves well for a horror with such a bloated runtime. My guess is the film stayed true to the Stephen King 500+ page vision. The villains are a tad unconventional and difficult to take seriously, but none of that is a real issue; I fault it significantly, however, for simply becoming Shining II: Here’s Danny! It’s one thing to be a sequel; it’s another thing to be an homage; Doctor Sleep clearly wanted to be The Shining exactly as Stanley Kubrick imagined it. While the film you’re seeing is worth watching, you will –on several occasions- wonder why you’re not just watching The Shining? I cannot answer that question. Maybe ask the woman in the hat.
Viewer caution time: Not only is this film a big, fat horror, Doctor Sleep has multiple scenes in which a child voluntarily and knowingly locks themselves in a bathroom with a demon who has taken the form of a naked old woman. That should give not only parents pause, but give pretty much everybody pause.
There once was a kid name Danny
Who shone through ev’ry nook and cranny
Not sure why he’s scared
For the evil unbared
That naked chick looks like your granny
Rated R, 152 Minutes
Director: Mike Flanagan
Writer: Mike Flanagan
Genre: Memories of great horror
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of The Shining
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who wonder why there’s a horror film sandwiched in another horror film … and why aren’t we watching that first one? It looks scary.
