31 Days of Horror: Doctor Sleep doesn't get the love it deserves
Welcome to the first of what will be 31 articles featuring films, books, games, and podcasts that the team here at The Horror Lounge think are worthy of your limited time during the Halloween season! Today's recommendation is Doctor Sleep.
I am a huge fan of Stephen King, and have been since I first read ‘Salem’s Lot at the tender age of 12. The Shining was the second of his novels that I read, and still ranks in my top 5 favorites, so I was very excited when Stanley Kubrick’s film version opened in theatres in 1980. I saw it on opening night, when the theatre was so full that I had to sit in the front row all the way on the end.
It was the biggest film disappointment of my life. I nearly got up and walked out of the theatre when Scatman Crothers’ Dick Halloran took an axe to his chest, because that was no way to treat such a beloved character from the book. Plus, as King himself observed, the novel shows the mental unraveling of Jack Torrance – and in the movie, he was already a little crazy.
When I read King’s sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, I really enjoyed it, and thought it was a worthy follow-up. Having seen Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House and Gerald’s Game, I was interested in the screen adaptation of Doctor Sleep from the start, and I loved it. I’m still not sure why it never really hit hard with horror fans
Mike Flanagan had his work cut out for him, because even though the book and film versions of The Shining are both very popular and beloved, they are also very different from one another. In addition to disrespectfully killing off Halloran, the film did not include the hedge animals from the novel (a hedge maze was added instead), and the endings were different. So, how could a filmmaker hope to satisfy everyone?
What he managed to create was a nearly perfect balance; he even went so far as to cast actors who could emulate those from the film; but they were not carbon copies. Alex Essoe and Carl Lumbly do not physically look like Shelly Duvall or Scatman Crothers, but their voices were spot-on in the flashback scenes.
Doctor Sleep re-introduces us to little Danny Torrance as an adult. “Dan” is a recovering alcoholic (like father, like son) who or more or less wants to hide from the world due to the trauma he has suffered. He keeps his ability to “shine” to himself, but ends up working in a hospice facility.
When young Abra Stone (who also shines) connects with Dan psychically, the two become friends of a sort. Abra’s abilities also connect her to a boy who is later kidnapped by a band of psychic vampires called The True Knot – and this is a rough bunch. They survive by feeding on what they call “steam,” which is a sort of psychic essence that is released when they torture and kill people who shine.
When the boy is killed by the group in a scene that is truly hard to watch, Abra experiences it through her psychic connection to him, and reaches out to Dan for help.
Dan and Abra convince some trusted friends to help them hunt down and stop the evil members of The True Knot, including their leader, a woman known as Rose the Hat.
With a solid storyline and an equally solid cast (Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyleigh Curran, along with lots of Flanagan’s favorite actors), Doctor Sleep definitely deserves to be a part of your Halloween movie nights. Give it a chance!
Doctor Sleep can be rented on multiple streaming services, including Amazon Prime Video.
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