It's an awfully tall order to create a sequel to the iconic horror film, The Shining (1980), but first a little history.
Stephen King's third novel, The Shining, published in 1977, was adapted into an unforgettable film in 1980 and a less successful TV miniseries in 1997. Doctor Sleep is Stephen King's continuation of The Shining universe with this sequel novel published in 2013. The small boy Danny who survived the terror of the haunted Overlook Hotel is now an adult in this sequel (Ewan McGregor, Christopher Robin, 2018) and rebuilding his life alone in small-town New Hampshire. Struggling with sobriety and his telepathy, Danny discovers more people with his same psychic gifts including a predatory group of marauders traveling across the country killing children (led by the ferocious Rebecca Ferguson, The Greatest Showman, 2017).
With a running time of two-and-a-half hours, the film thankfully remains entertaining and doesn't drag. But it took some time to understand the emotional tone of Doctor Sleep because it didn't feel especially scary. With telepathic characters who can enter each other's minds, control people's thoughts, and create realistic illusions, it's more like a fantasy film with suspenseful moments. All the mental landscape scenes are shot very well by offering a clear, visceral authenticity of character's interior fears, memories, and desires. Cerebral concepts like mind control or living in a constructed mental world are rarely visualized well in horror films; good examples of this include Repulsion (1965), Videodrome (1983), and Jacob's Ladder (1990).
Similar to The Shining, Doctor Sleep explores the dark psychological themes of guilt, death, and fear. There just isn't much attention given to frightening moments that jolt you or make you crinkle your nose in disgust. And although the musical score uses the same unnerving sounds as The Shining, there isn't the same symmetrical, still, patient cinematography from The Shining that gracefully lures viewers into madness.
Doctor Sleep is not a failure, but it doesn't belong in the expected horror genre either. It belongs somewhere in a gray, mysterious area. I walked away feeling the film was just okay.
