The film has arguably too many close-ups and a bit too much of a cool gray/blue color palette, but these elements add to its eerie, twilight feel. Abra finds her way to Dan, and the two draw Rose and her team into a final showdown, which everyone who’s ever seen a movie knows can only happen in one place.įlanagan and his team wisely don’t choose to visually emulate “The Shining” for most of “Doctor Sleep,” producing a film that looks a lot more like an episode of “Hill House” than the Kubrick original. The True Knot could feed on her for generations or make her one of their own. In one of the film’s most disturbing scenes, the True Knot kidnaps a boy ( Jacob Tremblay) and brutally murders him-after all, torture makes the steam he releases that much sweeter.Ĭonnecting the Rose and Dan arcs is the character of Abra Stone (newcomer Kyliegh Curran), who is so powerful that she literally draws the attention of the True Knot and finds a way to psychically communicate with Dan.

The idea that there are forces in this world that thrive off pain and misery, selfishly living off the greatness found within others, is a very King creation, and Flanagan doesn’t shy away from the grisliness here. They call themselves the True Knot, and they travel the country looking for children who “shine,” stealing their essence and feeding off of it. Rose the Hat ( Rebecca Ferguson) leads a roving group of powerful creatures who aren’t exactly invulnerable but have found a way to be immortal. While Dan is earning the nickname that gives the film its title, we’re introduced to two new characters. The idea that someone who learned through trauma that ghosts are real could comfort those wondering what happens after death is one that Flanagan takes seriously. There’s a respectful solemnity to these scenes that emerge from Flanagan’s empathetic and emotional side. He jumps a bus to New Hampshire, where he tries to find stability, joins AA, and makes a friend named Billy ( Cliff Curtis), before getting a job at a hospice, where his shining power allows him to help people on the edge of death cross over. Detailed a bit more in the book, he’s basically using alcoholism to hide his trauma, and he reaches rock bottom when he takes money from a single mother with whom he just had a coke-addled one-night stand. After a prologue that reveals a young Danny Torrance figuring out how to control his “shining” powers and capturing the ghosts that haunt him, we’re re-introduced to an adult Dan, played by Ewan McGregor.

Doctor sleep by stephen king