Sequel won’t keep you up in the dead of night
The Shining is one of my favourite horror movies of all time.
Follow-up Doctor Sleep had a lot to live up to, then, but director Mike Flanagan did a great job with his previous Stephen King adaptation (Gerald’s Game) and has an impressive pedigree in the genre on both the big (Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil) and small (The Haunting of Hill House) screens.
Set decades on from the sinister events at the Overlook Hotel, Ewan Mcgregor stars as the grown-up Danny Torrance who is contacted by powerful youngster Abra (Kyliegh Curran) – putting them both in the cross heirs of the evil Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson).
It feels churlish to say Doctor Sleep was never going to match The Shining for an exercise in terror and superlative filmmaking – and it doesn’t – but there are two things that come very close; Flanagan’s shooting style and Ferguson’s mesmerising turn.
The director expertly recreates moments and locations from Stanley Kubrick’s classic and despite expanding from its predecessor’s claustrophobic central location, Flanagan still injects a sense of danger throughout.
Ferguson is light years away from her barely seen antagonist in Men in Black: International; alluring and insane-with-apurpose, Rose the Hat is one of the most memorable screen villains of the year.
Less impressive, though, is
Mcgregor who struggles to handle Danny’s character beat shifts and seems too calm for someone who has experienced such horror.
At two-and-a-half hours, this sequel is also a bit of a slog – particularly during its saggy mid-section – and also short on genuine scares.
Shining fans will get a kick out of seeing the next step in the story – and nostalgic nods to the seminal flick – but while you won’t be nodding off watching it, Doctor Sleep does little to keep you awake in the middle of the night.
You’d be forgiven for thinking this is a Red Sparrow remake as it shares many similarities.
Sasha Luss has impressive physicality but lacks star power and emotion, while there are too many twists.