Review of Doctor Sleep (2019) by Erifica — 10 Nov 2019

This film fails to live up to the precedence set by The Shining. What scares you about The Shining? For me, it is the idea that one can become murderous and go insane in isolation. Jack Torrence had his demons and The Overlook brought out his darkness. The scenes with the ghosts were intense especially as each member of the family questions their sanity. Are they really seeing something or is it their own mind playing tricks? Then you have the intense and timely music which gives The Shining an ominous intensity. The idea is this could happen to you.

Doctor Sleep fast forward into the future, Danny is all grown up. He’s an alcoholic. He is violent. He leaves a mother in her own vomit with her toddler to die. What’s likeable about him? If you haven’t watched the Shining do you even like this guy? Can you see yourself in him? I can’t. Danny isn’t very likeable. As the story progresses, someone take a chance on him and we see him become a slightly better person. He joins AA and gets a job working in hospice where he helps people pass. That part is interesting. But then you have this whole bizarre group of psychic vampires (I guess?) who are hunting people who shine. We don’t really know who they are or where they come from. But they pose a threat to a psychic child who had befriended Danny. The whole storyline just does nothing for me. It plays out like fan fiction. Or maybe a bad episode of The Vampire Diaries. Maybe that’s your thing but it isn’t mine. I never felt sacred. I didn’t feel empathy for Danny or Abra. I just didn’t care or feel anything. The end was like a Hallmark movie. I know Stephen King didn’t like Kubrick’s version of The Shining but Kubrick made a masterpiece. This is just a flop.