DOCTOR SLEEP
US, 2019, 151 minutes, Colour.
Ewan M cGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas.
Directed by Mike Flanagan.
It took Stephen King almost 40 years to write his sequel to The Shining, published 1977, filmed by Stanley Kubrick, 1980. He seems to have been wondering what happened to Danny Torrance, the little boy at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado, terrorised by his father (as we remember Jack Nicholson). Doctor Sleep provides his answer. Director Mike Flanagan says that he wanted to link the novel and Kubrick’s film version with his interpretation of the sequel.
Actually, Danny (a sympathetic performance by Ewan Mc Gregor) is an alcoholic but trying to walk the road to recovery. And, traumatised by the events at the Overlook Hotel, he suppresses his ability, his extrasensory perceptions, his “Shining�. His adult life has been rather aimless.
To get the audience into the mood, the screenplay actually reprises some sequences from The Shining, especially at the beginning where Danny is seen riding his tricycle along the corridors of the hotel, passing Room 237, evoking the memories of his terror. Since childhood days, he has been living with his mother in Florida.
But, you can’t keep the shining down (or, at least, Stephen King can’t). There is a young boy with the gift but he comes to a brutal end, the victim of a gang of semi-immortals, called The True Knot, a very scungy looking and behaving lot, presided over by the sinister woman, Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson). In the meantime, some peace for Danny with advice from an AA counsellor, Bruce Greenwood, and support personnel, Billy, Cliff Curtis.
But, he experiences even stronger shining, a young girl, Abra (Kyleigh Curran) is communicating, gets to Danny, and he and Billy go on a crusade to save Abra and confront The True Knot. This is where the film becomes quite violent – but, how else can one confront these savage would-be immortals who also kill in order to draw out the Shining breath and absorb it so that they can live?).
And, where else to resolve the Shining conflicts but for Abra and Danny to travel to Colorado and re-visit The Overlook? As Danny enters, movie memories Stirred as we go into the deserted hotel, to the boiler room which will have a sinister effect, travel the corridors, see the ghosts again, use the hotel covered in snow, encounter the man at the bar (Henry Thomas) and re--visit the axe-smashed door.
Danny versus Rose the Hat. Perhaps not quite the ending anticipated but Abra might actually shine again.
1. As a thriller in itself? As a sequel to The Shining? The links with the novel, the film version? Stephen King’s intention in writing a sequel to The Shining?
2. Stephen King and his imagination, the Overlook hotel? Special powers and connections? The Shining? The violence, the ghosts, the buried spirits, connections and knowledge? 40 years later?
3. The settings, the eastern states, Ohio and the Road, the farms, Alcoholics Anonymous? The coven of True Knot? Going to Colorado, Overlook Hotel, the snow Western Mark the musical score?
4. The opening, the sequences from The Shining, Danny and his tricycle, room 237, the creature in the bath, the repetition of the axe sequence, the glimpse of Danny’s mother, the pursuit by his father? The bar?
5. Danny, 40 years on, his experience, alcoholic, concealing the shining? The problems with the alcohol, giving up? AA, the director and the discussions, friendship with Billy, his support? Jobs? The temptations? The communication from Abra? Roy and his gifts? The True Not Group, overcoming Roy, his death after breathing his spirit, the burial of the baseball glove? The move to pursue Abra?
6. The ghostly presence from the past, reappearing, advising Danny, his return?
7. The True Not group, partially immortal, like a coven, the different personalities, spongy, Rose the Hat in charge, her domination? They’re searching for the spirit breath, their powers, possession, entering into minds? The sequence with Casablanca, watching Snakebite Andi, her hypnotic powers? The recruiting her? The scenes with the group and their way of life?
8. Abra, the communication, the effect on Danny? Billy helping him? The setup, Danny and his effective work with the patients, Doctor Sleep? The decision to find the glove, driving cross-country, setting up the siege with the True Not? The violence, the deaths? Billy overpowered and persuaded to shoot himself? The Crow and his escape, taking Abra, killing her father, driving and sedating her? Her communication with Danny, his presence in her, the crash and Crow’s Death?
9. The strategy, Abra and her age, character, powers, ability to contact? Escaping from Crow? Danny entering into her? The two of them going to Overlook?
10. The hotel dark, going to the boiler room, the lights and the hotel coming to life again? Abra on the lookout, Rose and her arrival? Danny touring the hotel again, meeting the bartender, the ghost of his father, communicating? Room 237, the figure in the bath? The tombs of those who had died?
11. Abra coming into the hotel, Rose pursuing her, the chase, the clashes, the ghosts from the past, descending on Rose, her death? Danny giving his life? The hotel ablaze?
12. The postscript, Danny and his appearing to Abra, encouraging her, her confronting the ghost in room 237?
