Review of the Terrifying, Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep was released on November 8, 2019 and was directed by Mike Flanagan. It is the sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

The acting in this movie is incredible. All of the main stars, Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, and Kyliegh Curran portray many different emotions expertly. Their range goes from terrified to sweet to sinister and to many other emotions with such fluidity that one can forget that they are acting.

Ewan McGregor plays a traumatized alcoholic who is trying to fix his life and run from his past. He really shows his trauma with his restrained and awkward way of talking with people. His arch throughout the film really fleshes out Dan Torrance and makes him feel like a real person.

Rebecca Ferguson plays the main villain, Rose the Hat. She is one of the most interesting and fleshed out characters in the film because a lot of screen time is dedicated to her and her crew which shows their motivations clearly. This choice makes them seem less like villains and more like a family. Ferguson and the rest of the crew, especially Zahn McClarnon, are all very talented and were great choices to cast as the villains.

Kyliegh Curran’s role as Abra is very interesting and must have been difficult because she has to portray an innocent girl, a confident girl, a terrified girl, and a sad girl all in one film. At one point she can be the terrifying person and at another point she can be the one getting terrified.

The scares this film gives are very effective. This is not the type of movie that has a jump scare every few minutes, it is beyond that. The film is scary because it does not show you everything that is going on. It uses implications in very effective ways to deliver scares. The very few wide shots create a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere.

The use of special effects on the crew of villains really distinguishes them from the protagonists and the ghosts from the Overlook Hotel. Speaking of the Overlook Hotel, the ghosts that inhabit it are brought back with incredible makeup to look almost exactly like in The Shining. The set for the hotel itself is also very accurate to The Shining and is terrifyingly confusing to watch Dan navigate it.

Lastly, the cinematography is very unique and beautiful to watch. The few dreamy scenes give the movie a unique style and the camera is used masterfully to distinguish between these and the normal scenes. The lighting is dark and dreary, but still includes a lot of color, especially in the Overlook. The movie also likes to focus on eyes a lot and uses them to distinguish between good vs evil and reality vs fiction.

This is definitely a movie worthy to be the sequel to Kubrick’s The Shining. It is one of the best horror movies out there and is a very memorable watch.