Doctor Sleep: Director's Cut (2019)

Despite Stephen King himself penning a sequel to his novel The Shining back in 2013, one would have thought it a foolish venture to adapt it into a film considering the esteem in which Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) is held. King dislikes Kubrick’s vision of his story, but that doesn’t really matter. I’ve always found Kubrick’s Shining more of a reimagining of the story than a straight up adaptation, and still don’t see it as a horror film as many do. Still, that doesn’t stop it being a great film. So which director would have the balls to take on such a proposition as taking on the sequel? That would be Mike Flanagan, the man behind such previous horrors as Oculus (2013) and an Ouija sequel.

And, against all odds, Flanagan proves his worth, helped by an excellent performance from Ewan McGregor as a grown up Danny Torrance, as well as Rebecca Ferguson adding yet more strings to her bow as the evil Rose. Special mention must also go to Kyliegh Curran in only her second role in film, she stands alongside McGregor as the films central pairing and is absolutely terrific, and certainly one to look out for in the future.

The director’s cut is three hours long, split into chapters, and Flanagan proves that taking the time to tell a story is preferable to cramming it all into ninety minutes as some would wish. Sadly Doctor Sleep falls (asleep) at the final hurdle, the inevitable need to hark back to the original with a visit to the Overlook Hotel for the lengthy final confrontation nearly undoes the good work of the first three quarters of the film. But Flanagan, his writers and his cast have justified the existence of a sequel to The Shining, and that in itself is to be admired. 6.8/10