SHINE OF THE TIMES
Clever sequel to Stephen King’s classic, The Shining, invokes imagery from Stanley Kubrick’s original film as a grown up Danny Torrance faces his old demons
AYOUNG boy pedalling his tricycle through empty hotel corridors, twin girls dressed in matching sky-blue party dresses, a tidal wave of blood cascading out of ornate elevator doors, an axe-wielding father chasing his terrified young son around a floodlit, snow-laden maze.
Legendary director Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s 1977 novel The Shining, delivered a slew of enduring images in a depiction of isolation and escalating madness.
Writer-director Mike Flanagan takes on the daunting task of revisiting the psychologically damaged survivors of the Overlook Hotel in a suspenseful sequel adapted from King’s 2013 novel.
In a creative flourish, he mimics Kubrick’s visual language to recreate key scenes from The Shining on meticulously rebuilt sets, embedding these flashbacks in a present-day story of ghoulish fanaticism that conjures moments of primal fear like its predecessor.
Dick Hallorann (Carl Lumbly), the Overlook Hotel’s avuncular chef, teaches grown-up Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) to use his extrasensory powers to control dark forces.
Initially, the stress this places his psyche sees Danny turn to the bottle – like his father Jack – but he finds sobriety and friendship in the New
Hampshire town of Frazier, supported by downstairs neighbour and AA sponsor Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis).
Nightmares of the past resurface when a teenager called Abra (Kyliegh Curran) makes contact.
She has unwittingly tapped into her “shine” to witness the ritualistic murder of a boy (Jacob Tremblay) at the hands of a cult called The True Knot. Abra’s abilities mark her as a prime target for the group’s malevolent leader Rose The Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) and chief lieutenant Crow Daddy (Zahn McClarnon).
Fearing for the girl’s safety, Danny prepares to face the demented disciples.
Doctor Sleep replicates Kubrick’s style beautifully to tighten a knot of tension in our stomachs and sustain that discomfort for two-and-a-half hours.
McGregor plumbs dark recesses to movingly expose fissures in his recovering alcoholic’s facade while newcomer Curran is mesmerising in her first film role.
Ferguson is chilling as a vengeful matriarch, who believes in the morality of her group’s murderous actions, setting up a barn-storming showdown in the familiar and chilly surroundings of the Colorado Rockies.