Doctor Sleep (movie): Good But Not A Classic

DOCTOR SLEEP

Years following the events of “The Shining,” a now-adult Dan Torrance meets a young girl with similar powers as he tries to protect her from a cult known as The True Knot who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.

★★★☆☆

My husband and I got to see this movie on October 30th because of the Fandango VIP Early Access promotion. I didn’t get a chance to read the book first (although I definitely tried to do the audiobook for The Shining but didn’t finish that one in time). Anyway, I just wanted to include those disclaimers before jumping into the review.

So, I didn’t hate this movie and I didn’t love it. According to IMDB, this is a 2.5-hour movie but it definitely didn’t feel that long to me. I’d say that means I was properly entertained by it. However, I think this is a good movie on its own but once you compare it to The Shining, it doesn’t hold up. The Shining is a classic – Doctor Sleep is not. It felt like Doctor Sleep was trying to be more “mainstream” and appeal to a larger audience while The Shining didn’t try to be something it wasn’t. Basically, The Shining was a psychological horror. It kept you guessing throughout the story, while Doctor Sleep follows a more cookie-cutter type of plot with the group of baddies and the good guys saving the day. It had an overall different feel to it.

However, on its own, Doctor Sleep was a good movie! I did like the overall story and execution of most of it. Some things I think it could have fleshed out a little better, like the bad guy group The True Knot. While I definitely understood what was happening and their motivation, a little more background on them would have been nice (like why are they even called The True Knot?). With that said, the group’s leader, Rose the Hat, is definitely my favorite character (I even dressed up as her for Halloween). The actress who played her was amazing and I just loved her evil seductress gypsy vibes. 

On that note, Doctor Sleep has more psychic thrills to it than it does horror, though. Granted, there are multiple characters with the same gifts Dan has. This creates a more mystical atmosphere than a scary atmosphere with scenes like getting inside another person’s head looking like a library; Rose the Hat floating above the earth searching for people with the shine; Dan being able to tell when someone is about to die – and so on. I would classify that as mysticism rather than horror. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few scenes where there is a clear attempt at horror, it just didn’t get me.

Overall, I did enjoy it – just for different reasons than The Shining. It’s an entertaining movie with a good plot and great casting (except the one blonde chick, she was pretty terrible). And for those that love The Shining, there are plenty of nods to that classic film.

Will you be seeing this one? Did you like The Shining? If you’re reading this once the movie is out, have you seen it yet? Thoughts?