Years following the events of The Shining (1980), a now-adult Dan Torrance must protect a young girl with similar powers from a cult known as The True Knot, who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.
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On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless-mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the "steam" that children with the "shining" produce when they are slowly tortured to death. Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father's legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant "shining" power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes "Doctor Sleep." Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan's own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra's soul...Written by
Stephen King
The hat Rose The Hat wears is a tatty silk top hat. See more »
Goofs
The Overlook is surprisingly undamaged despite being abandoned for years. No graffiti, no broken windows, and it is remarkably clean.
Not a goof. The place is in the middle of nowhere, is the site of several murders, and is a haunted, supernatural place, which would explain why no one visited. Also, this is in line with what we know of the hotel. Don't forget that the lights magically turn themselves on when Danny walk through the building.... The hotel is supernatural. See more »
Quotes
Dick Hallorann:
They eat screams. And drink pain. And they've noticed that little girl.
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Crazy Credits
The retro "\\'" logo, as seen on The Shining (1980), is shown at the beginning with the WarnerMedia byline. See more »
Alternate Versions
The 3-hour Director's Cut restores the following scenes not shown in the theatrical cut:
The film's title card is now shown in the beginning and the new cut is broken down into six chapters via their own respective chapter cards.
In the prologue, there's extra dialogue by Rose on secret places in finding roses and then assuring Violet on not scaring her. After Violet gets caught, her mother searches for her only to find a van column driving away before it fades to black.
In young Danny's first scene, the ghost of Mrs. Massey appearing in the house bath tub is shown in full. When Wendy enters the bathroom, a wet footprint is visible on the tub's mat.
When Halloran talks to young Danny, there's more dialogue touching on the events that occurred in The Shining. Halloran describes The Overlook Hotel as mosquitoes landing on blood and a similar event that occurred to himself before.
As the adult Danny stares into the mirror, there are more flashbacks describing the events the night before. He comes back to the bedroom and notices the empty bottle. In this version, he shows a little hesitation when he takes a wad of cash from the woman's wallet. As he's about to leave, he sees Halloran again,being warned not to put the Overlook's memories into the boxes.
Little Abra's (the night before her birthday party) original introduction is restored back.
A short scene explaining how Danny arrived in Frazier by buying a bus ticket. Another similar scene appears later, which setups Abra's first meeting with Danny in person.
During little Abra's birthday party, there's more shots the magician performing tricks followed by another short exchange between David and Lucy about nap time.
Rose emphasizes the importance of the True Knot and Andi's alliance to her.
During Danny's first AA session with Billy, two short scenes have been put back: Dr. Dalton asks whether if there's any new person joining the session and then later an exchange referencing Billy's brother Frankie.
After Snakebite Andi's initiation to the True Knot, she learns that she was out for a few days, then goes to hug Grandpa Flick. This immediately follows by Lucy calming little Abra down.
There's a new long track shot through the Overlook Hotel to the bar in the Gold Room before the Chapter 3 title card is shown.
In the second AA sequence, Danny talks more about his father and his broken arm.
There's more dialogue between Charlie and Danny. Danny tells him about the relationship ("Farmall tractor. A striped umbrella over the seat. Five years old, pulling a red wagon.").
More explicit shots on Bradley's death are added. Immediately after, Rose is furious that she could not have a few more extra minutes of harvesting his smoke. The grave digging shot is now composited in front of the Redrum message as Danny stares at it.
When the True Knot finds out about Abra, Rose and Crow Daddy debate on neither killing nor turning her before she walks out of her trailer. The Chapter 4 title card shows up next.
In Abra and Danny's first meeting in person, she talks from her point of view of using her shining abilities and her motives behind it. Danny warns her further.
There's another flashback between Wendy and young Danny which makes clear that she's still struggling with the loss of Jack.
During Halloran's final visit to Danny, he warns him further about the True Knot and the line, "Ka's a wheel, doc" is elaborated further.
Crow Daddy interrupts Rose's meditation with a news of an unusual earthquake, which gives them clues of where to find Abra. He also reveals a plan on how to abduct her and suggests having Andi to guard Rose but was turned down.
At the Stone's family house, Billy and Danny had a talk with David before Abra shows David her abilities including a flashback of Bradley's death.
Crow Daddy's kidnapping of Abra and the killing of David is shown in full.
In the Overlook Hotel's bar, there's more dialogue between Danny and Jack / Lloyd - he specifically talks about his childhood and using his ability one more time to fix Wendy's nightmare. He also reveals that he has been sober for eight years and to have a drink at this point would be like wasting those years of sobriety.
Following their conversation, Lloyd takes Danny into the infamous red washroom and cleans him up. There, he stirs up Danny against Abra.
At the end credits, two more cards showed up, displaying additional music credits for the added scenes following by a special thanks card for the new cut by director Mike Flanagan.
What a surprise... That wasn't so bad actually! Now, hear me out. When I first saw the previews for this I felt disappointed by the visual look of the film, as it was all too green-tinted and lacked the Kubrick-esque framing I want from a film like this (it being a sequel to "The Shining" after all). Remember, I care too much about the visual aesthetics of these things sometimes. Especially when it was clearly supposed to connect right to the iconic classic. The green tint stays throughout the film, much to my displeasure. Worked great in "Joker" though. But once I got what the story was and paid attention I realized I was getting invested. This is a different type of film while still remembering to pay huge amounts of respect to the legacy of the original. Once you do get to the elements that carry over from Kubrick's film it felt well earned. Interestingly enough they kind of blend well together too eventually. We delve into the supernatural aspects of what Stephen King was going after in his book, and that's completely fine. I don't mind a chilling spookie once in a while. Recently I've felt done with most of the modern day horror film tropes, so it's such a shock for me to say that I had a good time with "Doctor Sleep".
The progression of where Danny Torrance's character goes to is a natural right step. They go for the 'father like son' kind of thing, and I was completely onboard with it. The ghost of Jack Nicholson's presence looms strongly over the story too, with Danny fearing not to follow his father's footsteps. The new story elements were able to grab my attention as well. Again, as soon as it clicked what type of plot/movie this was, then it worked. It's its own thing, and that's great. No "Shining" remake - except for some re-created imagery (handled with nice respect) - But most importantly: The story and characters moved forwards. Loved what they did with the character Rose the Hat. What a sinister yet oddly charming antagonist portrayed hypnotically by Rebecca Ferguson. Hope she gets the deserved credit. Ewan McGregor will always be Obi-Wan to me, but he was a fantastic choice to play Danny. He can convincingly make me believe that he's got the 'shine'. It surprises me how positive I feel about the movie! It's a neat little companion piece to the classic. Again, big props for them to go for their own thing. This is no "Force Awakens", if you know what I mean. You'll walk though memory lane here for sure. The difference is that it doesn't rely on the nostalgia to tell their story. It actually stands on its own. I'll say that if you're a big fan of the original, then it's worth taking a looksie
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What a surprise... That wasn't so bad actually! Now, hear me out. When I first saw the previews for this I felt disappointed by the visual look of the film, as it was all too green-tinted and lacked the Kubrick-esque framing I want from a film like this (it being a sequel to "The Shining" after all). Remember, I care too much about the visual aesthetics of these things sometimes. Especially when it was clearly supposed to connect right to the iconic classic. The green tint stays throughout the film, much to my displeasure. Worked great in "Joker" though. But once I got what the story was and paid attention I realized I was getting invested. This is a different type of film while still remembering to pay huge amounts of respect to the legacy of the original. Once you do get to the elements that carry over from Kubrick's film it felt well earned. Interestingly enough they kind of blend well together too eventually. We delve into the supernatural aspects of what Stephen King was going after in his book, and that's completely fine. I don't mind a chilling spookie once in a while. Recently I've felt done with most of the modern day horror film tropes, so it's such a shock for me to say that I had a good time with "Doctor Sleep".
The progression of where Danny Torrance's character goes to is a natural right step. They go for the 'father like son' kind of thing, and I was completely onboard with it. The ghost of Jack Nicholson's presence looms strongly over the story too, with Danny fearing not to follow his father's footsteps. The new story elements were able to grab my attention as well. Again, as soon as it clicked what type of plot/movie this was, then it worked. It's its own thing, and that's great. No "Shining" remake - except for some re-created imagery (handled with nice respect) - But most importantly: The story and characters moved forwards. Loved what they did with the character Rose the Hat. What a sinister yet oddly charming antagonist portrayed hypnotically by Rebecca Ferguson. Hope she gets the deserved credit. Ewan McGregor will always be Obi-Wan to me, but he was a fantastic choice to play Danny. He can convincingly make me believe that he's got the 'shine'. It surprises me how positive I feel about the movie! It's a neat little companion piece to the classic. Again, big props for them to go for their own thing. This is no "Force Awakens", if you know what I mean. You'll walk though memory lane here for sure. The difference is that it doesn't rely on the nostalgia to tell their story. It actually stands on its own. I'll say that if you're a big fan of the original, then it's worth taking a looksie