Stanley Kurbrick's The Shining is my all time favourite horror movie. Through a mixture of Kurbrick's meticulous attention to detail and the films haunting score, it had this feeling of constant dread that loomed over every scene. Across the film it builds up the history and mythology of Overlook hotel in a way that constantly made us raise questions, but without ever offering us any clear answers. Instead it condensed this history into a story of spousal abuse and combined it with some iconic performances from Nicholson and Duvall to achieve the ideal of what all horror films should strive to achieve.
Needless to say this sets a high bar for any film to live up to. But with King himself writing his own sequel novel in 2013 and the current trend for studios to cash in on as many nostalgic properties as they can, it was only a matter of time before Doctor Sleep got made into a film. We now get a loose adaptation of King's novel following a grown up Danny Torrance after the events of the first film (and not the vastly different book) as he attempts to deal with his dark past and the horrors of the supernatural world.
It's a pretty strong setup for a continuation and at first the film seems to do a decent job at exploring this potential. We see a washed up Danny trapped in a bottle and struggling with the ghosts of the Overlook hotel in a precariously similar situation to his own father. This aspect of the film is definitely elevated by McGreggors performance who really channels his own history with alcoholism in a way where you can see how worn down he's become through a constant battle with his inner demons.
But unfortunately we don't get to explore this side of Danny in too much detail, as just when Danny appears to be getting his life back on track a girl who also has the ability to shine named Abra, played by Kyliegh Curran, approaches him. She needs help dealing with a cult known as the true knot. They're an ancient organisation who preys on "gifted" children to absorb their life in an attempt to gain immortality and are led by a woman named Rose, played by Rebecca Ferguson, who takes sinister joy in creating fear and pain for the young children she kidnaps since she says that it makes them taste better.
Though whilst Ferguson's performance is entertaining, the surrounding history doesn't carry the same weight as that of the Overlook hotel. You would expect that the idea of these characters who have lived potentially millenia would carry some interesting backstories, but there's little depth with most members of the group hardly even getting any dialogue.They also end up being taken care off so easily that it left me wondering why they should have ever been considered a threat to begin with. And it's a big problem when the monsters of a horror film are neither scary nor interesting.
Also whilst the idea of Danny mentoring a young girl just like dick Hallorann did for him seems like it could be interesting, they seem to waste this potential since the girl never seems to need his help. Unlike Danny she doesn't seem detached from the world due to her powers and she's already seems more powerful than Danny so we don't see this dynamic explored.
Then of course there's the return of the Overlook hotel which was teased ever since the first teaser. The original Shining didn't try to rely on jump scares alone to create the Overlooks terrifying presence, instead it slowly built up the structure of the hotel through tracking shots and a dreadful sense of complete isolation. Then when it got to the end with all the spirits revealing themselves it's a hectic explosion of chaos delivering on some horrifying imagery. But here the hotel is just treated like a fun house only appearing in the last act of the film and having appearances of all the spirits crammed into the film without ever delivering on any actual scares.
Unfortunately the only element in the film which really comes close The Shining is the films score, which does a decent job of capturing the tone of the original theme. But outside of this the film just ends up feeling too scattered to be effective. There's not enough suspense to make for a good horror and there's not enough depth to provide us with a good character study. And in terms of capturing the spirit of the original film, unfortunately Ready Player One ended up being the more loyal portrayal.
Needless to say this sets a high bar for any film to live up to. But with King himself writing his own sequel novel in 2013 and the current trend for studios to cash in on as many nostalgic properties as they can, it was only a matter of time before Doctor Sleep got made into a film. We now get a loose adaptation of King's novel following a grown up Danny Torrance after the events of the first film (and not the vastly different book) as he attempts to deal with his dark past and the horrors of the supernatural world.
It's a pretty strong setup for a continuation and at first the film seems to do a decent job at exploring this potential. We see a washed up Danny trapped in a bottle and struggling with the ghosts of the Overlook hotel in a precariously similar situation to his own father. This aspect of the film is definitely elevated by McGreggors performance who really channels his own history with alcoholism in a way where you can see how worn down he's become through a constant battle with his inner demons.
But unfortunately we don't get to explore this side of Danny in too much detail, as just when Danny appears to be getting his life back on track a girl who also has the ability to shine named Abra, played by Kyliegh Curran, approaches him. She needs help dealing with a cult known as the true knot. They're an ancient organisation who preys on "gifted" children to absorb their life in an attempt to gain immortality and are led by a woman named Rose, played by Rebecca Ferguson, who takes sinister joy in creating fear and pain for the young children she kidnaps since she says that it makes them taste better.
Though whilst Ferguson's performance is entertaining, the surrounding history doesn't carry the same weight as that of the Overlook hotel. You would expect that the idea of these characters who have lived potentially millenia would carry some interesting backstories, but there's little depth with most members of the group hardly even getting any dialogue.They also end up being taken care off so easily that it left me wondering why they should have ever been considered a threat to begin with. And it's a big problem when the monsters of a horror film are neither scary nor interesting.
Also whilst the idea of Danny mentoring a young girl just like dick Hallorann did for him seems like it could be interesting, they seem to waste this potential since the girl never seems to need his help. Unlike Danny she doesn't seem detached from the world due to her powers and she's already seems more powerful than Danny so we don't see this dynamic explored.
Then of course there's the return of the Overlook hotel which was teased ever since the first teaser. The original Shining didn't try to rely on jump scares alone to create the Overlooks terrifying presence, instead it slowly built up the structure of the hotel through tracking shots and a dreadful sense of complete isolation. Then when it got to the end with all the spirits revealing themselves it's a hectic explosion of chaos delivering on some horrifying imagery. But here the hotel is just treated like a fun house only appearing in the last act of the film and having appearances of all the spirits crammed into the film without ever delivering on any actual scares.
Unfortunately the only element in the film which really comes close The Shining is the films score, which does a decent job of capturing the tone of the original theme. But outside of this the film just ends up feeling too scattered to be effective. There's not enough suspense to make for a good horror and there's not enough depth to provide us with a good character study. And in terms of capturing the spirit of the original film, unfortunately Ready Player One ended up being the more loyal portrayal.