Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep follows Danny Torrance in his middle age, decades after his horrific experience at the Overlook Hotel with his brave mother Wendy and his father Jack, who is rapidly losing his mind. Nearly 40 years later, Danny is an ex-alcoholic noticing his psychic connections to a young girl named Abra and the looming threat of an immortal roaming cult, the True Knot, that feast off of the Shine of the youth.
Before this effort, Flanagan had already directed another Stephen King adaptation, 2017’s Gerald’s Game. He also directed The Haunting of Hill House, a series that was also released on Netflix, and a show I’m a fan of. Flanagan is a promising figure in the horror scene and Doctor Sleep proved his talent to me even more.
First, no film is great without worthy actors. This film not only has moving and human performances all-around, but a deeply disturbing performance from Jacob Tremblay, who was just eleven to twelve years old at the time of filming. Ewan McGregor beautifully displays the young tendencies of Danny as a warm and caring adult. Rebecca Ferguson has a unique and electric depiction of Rose the Hat, a heartless character that could have easily been played too over-the-top, but she found the right tone that was terrifying in her charm and false care. The large cast holds smaller parts that take advantage of the entire time they’re on screen. Flanagan and the casting director made incredible decisions when it came to casting Wendy Torrance, Jack Torrance, and young Danny. As Shelly Duvall, Jack Nicholson, and Danny Lloyd gave unique and breathtaking performances of those characters in 1980, recasting had to be daunting as CGI would have been a hackneyed and cheapening option. However, Alex Essoe, Henry Thomas, and Roger Dale Floyd brought new life and dimension to these timeless characters in important flashbacks – recasting them well not only fit the part but added to the experience as a whole.
The visuals of this film were unlike any I’ve seen in recent years. The colors and settings felt truly “right” for the story – they made sense, as if that world had every detail in place that were intended to. The sound was simultaneously lifelike and unheard of, echoing the most horrific moments in a way that punctuated their effect. The costume design felt hyperreal to the times and personalities, and the attention to the minute in the recreations of the Overlook gave me a sense of unease and thrill. It’s likely to be remembered for its innovation – it was unashamed of effects that could be deemed as cheap or silly, but were more appropriate than expensive and gratuitous adaptations from other fantastical current releases. The transitions that brought us from reality into the use of the Shine were always startling and chill-inducing – it was hard to know when to trust gravity. Abra held onto a windowsill as the room turned and her legs floated up behind her, Rose the Hat soaring above clouds and across the country. It replicated the feelings and sensations I’ve only had in dreams, in nightmares, in sleep. It made me feel more watched and immersed than so many horror films from recent years. It has been a long while since a film’s cinematography, special effects, and camera work have affected me so deeply.
Of course, as I implied earlier, Flanagan was lucky enough to have another incredibly complex and interesting story to base off of written by the legend Stephen King. Although I’m a fan of Kubrick’s The Shining, I also don’t particularly enjoy its cold nature, especially with the immense amount of heart that the book holds. Doctor Sleep was an indescribably warm, heartfelt movie, which was an amazing achievement as it was also genuinely upsetting and scary. Some horror fans criticize King’s work that isn’t solely horror, although I think his strongest writing is the stories he tells without boundaries. What I’ve always respected and enjoyed most is his intense worldbuilding and expansion of the character’s emotions into their realities. Some fans that criticize his stranger works enjoy blockbusters like It Chapter 2, also released this year, which I feel that Doctor Sleep reflected the standout qualities of. Both reflect on childhood trauma and the way it haunts adulthood, which is a trend in King’s writing that resonates most with me. While the book did it easily, it’s hard for a horror movie to retain humanity and fear- as I said before about Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, Flanagan has proven he can balance sheer terror of trauma and light of love.
This movie impressed me far beyond my expectations, which were honestly already high. I was so disappointed to hear that this movie performed fairly poorly at the box office. However, I can almost guarantee its soon-to-be status as a cult classic that will be appreciated far too late. For now, please go and support movies like this one that will change horror as it’s known today, highlighting and utilizing its possibilities like never before. Doctor Sleep isn’t lesser than so-called “elevated” horror – it respects itself, the audience, and the genre more than that. If it’s anything for you like it was for me, it will transcend emotions that need to be exercised much more in the genre.
