Review: Doctor Sleep (2019)
I begin with an admission about The Shining. I never really cared for Stephen King’s original novel. It is a fine book, sure. It is a good read. But it does not stick with me in the way that Kubrick’s 1980 film-adaptation has haunted me my entire life. I never read Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep either, simply because it was not a continuation of the story that Kubrick committed to film.
The Shining is one of those instances where the adaptation is better than the book. This is a rare breed indeed; off the top of my head, I can safely include The Godfather and Jurassic Park on such a list.
The heart of the matter here is that, had I read Doctor Sleep, I am almost certain that the movie is better than the book. I say this because it is a pitch-perfect follow-up to Kubrick’s The Shining.
The Return of Danny Torrance
Doctor Sleep follows the crossing of paths between a survivor of the Overlook, Dan Torrance, a young, shining girl named Abra, and a collective of psychic vampires. Dan’s senses dulled by years of drinking and locking away the ghosts of the Overlook in his mind have left him directionless until he finds salvation in his friend Billy, A.A., and helping the dying travel to the other side in peace. With Dan’s shine off the radar, he thankfully misses out on catching the attention of Rose the Hat and The True Knot, a group of quasi-immortal psychic vampires, over the decades. This group hunts down people who shine and consumes their “steam,” or a manifestation of their shine.
Danny, however, finds himself newly awakened with his shine when he befriends a young girl named Abra, who shines so bright that The True Knot seek to consume her. How does Danny fight those who seek to consume his and Abra’s very gifts?
The film is directed by Mike Flanagan (of Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House). Flanagan is also is credited for the screenplay. Doctor Sleep stars Ewan McGregor as Dan Torrance, Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat, and Kyliegh Curran as Abra Stone. The film also features Cliff Curtis, Zahn McClarnon, and Emily Alyn Lind.
What worked about Doctor Sleep?
At heart, Doctor Sleep is very much about coping with trauma. Danny Torrance is haunted not only by his father’s violence but by the Overlook and its many ghosts who still crave him and his shine over the decades. This leaves us with Danny as a shell of a man in many regards, sadly echoing his father’s alcoholism and drifting from tragedy to tragedy. The Overlook left its mark, and much like how his role as Doctor Sleep helps the elderly deal with their deaths so too does the film Doctor Sleep help to provide closure and context for Dan.
Whereas The Shining is a very cold and impersonal film to depict the exploration of madness and isolation, Doctor Sleep runs warmer. The film is more crowded and concerned with the emotional wellbeing of the protagonists, and it serves as a companion piece to Kubrick’s classic. The Shining is the trauma and Doctor Sleep is the coping mechanism. At heart, these are very different films with very different aims, and yet they work together and build off one another.
The family that occupied the Overlook those faithful months before its closure was already destroyed before Jack, Wendy, and Danny stepped inside. The Shining ends with the impression that Danny would not be okay. It was not that sort of film, that sentimentality was beyond Kubrick. Danny grew up to be Dan, traumatized and never able to find closure with his mother. Doctor Sleep fills us in on that legacy, but it also provides hope that you could never find in The Shining.
Keep in mind that the film is not just Danny’s story, but also the story of Abra and Rose. All three narrative threads are strong. Just as Dick Halloran helped Danny to understand his shine, Dan, too, helps young Abra. “Ka is a wheel,” a thematic thread throughout King’s work of the last twenty years, plays out beautifully here. It also helps that Rose the Hat is a stunning villain; a dream-like figure with an undeniable charm and clear menace.
The film delivers exactly what you would want to see in a follow-up to The Shining. The nature of the Overlook’s ghostly residents ensures a key conversation occurs that I will not spoil here. You already know what it is, deep down, though, and I can confirm that it delivers chills.
What Didn’t work with Doctor Sleep?
While the film as a whole is excellent, there are elements that could have been better. Namely, at 2 hours and 31 minutes, the film suffers from bloat, which likely stems from the source material. Flanagan has to accomplish a lot of things within that run-time, and it is a testament to the film that the runtime does not feel overly long. The film isn’t much longer than its predecessor, but it feels denser because of everything it needs to juggle.
A lot of that bloat most assuredly falls on the shoulders of King. The True Knot, while interesting, is a rather large group of antagonists. We only really know the names of five of them. The film could have easily excised a fair number of psychic vampires and still had the same effect and level of threat.
The same goes for catching up with Danny over the decades. His journey is fascinating, but it is also a long one. The film could have easily started with Danny at the hospice center, performing his Doctor Sleep duties. His backstory could be revealed in small moments here and there, but getting us up to speed with his selfless, yet hesitant existence takes a while.
These are all minor quibbles, however.
Final Impressions
It is a miracle that a successful sequel to The Shining can exist that manages to soothe the division that existed between Kubrick’s adaptation and Stephen King’s source material. The film really is a wonder. Something with this much baggage should not work as well as it does.
(5 / 5)
How did you enjoy Doctor Sleep? Why not let us know in the comments? Meanwhile, stick around here at Haunted MTL. You never know what other Doctor Sleep content might show up…
After a shaky start, Goosebumps The Vanishing is still on shaky ground with this penultimate episode. While there were some surprises, a lot of them were rather disappointing.
I feel like I say this a lot, but if you’ve read the original book then you might have a hint about where this is going. But it won’t tell you the whole story. So let’s take a trip to Camp Nightmare and see what’s waiting for us.
The story
We begin this episode with a flashback to the Fort before it was a fort. A group of Camp Nightmoon campers is hiking there with the worst camp counselor ever. It was almost a relief when the mysterious monster reached up from the cliffside and grabbed him.
Back in the present, the teens are putting the pieces together. They track down Dr. Pamani’s father and even find a book he published. They then locate the address of her lab and break in. There, they find her journals that chronicle the discovery of the monster, and how it managed to kill her entire team.
What worked
In this episode, and in fact this season, scientists are not the bad guys. Which is a relief. Science fiction and horror tend to hold up a mirror to society, showing us what we’re really scared of using monsters and ghosts as allegories. So often, when people are wary of science and scientists, we have horror movies that demonize them.
But that’s not what happened here. The scientists are not necessarily the good guys, but the ones who tried to save the world. Even though they failed, they tried.
One good example of this was Dr. Pamani telling her father, “We’re scientists, not soldiers.” This is a great line. And this episode had a lot of great lines. The dialog was on point. Nothing felt forced, but it also felt polished and impactful. It was just overall well done.
I also enjoyed, to a point, the flashback scenes to 1969. It was interesting to see the people who tried to contain this entity. To learn from it. The flashback was also ominous. Because never did the characters explain how this entity got there. They didn’t seem interested in that, only in how to destroy it. Since we don’t know why or how it came to New York, we don’t know if there are more of them somewhere else. And since everyone’s being so secretive, we might never know.
Until it’s too late.
What didn’t work
Unfortunately, this episode failed more than it succeeded.
Let’s start with the sudden change of heart Dr. Pamani has. For decades, she’s been controlling and containing this creature. She’s been careful to never take risks that might release it into the world. So when Cece and Devin want to go save their dad, she says no.
At first. Then, after a not-so-passionate plea by Cece, she changes her mind and agrees to help them save Anthony.
Which seems like a really quick departure from her stance just moments before. Honestly, this wasn’t believable at all. It was lazy. It felt like they just didn’t have a good enough reason for her to change her mind, so they just handwaved it away.
This wasn’t the only part of the story that was too easy. This whole investigation went smoothly for them. They wanted to find the book by Dr. Avi Pamani, and they found it at the library. They didn’t even find it. The librarian found it for them. They wanted to find Dr. Pamani’s address. They found it in seconds and also found her credit score. They got into her lab by doing nothing more than cutting a chain holding the door shut. And we’re supposed to believe that no one ever thought to do any of this? Four teenagers vanished in the 1990s, and none of their family members were ever able to put all this together. That just doesn’t make sense to me.
Both of these issues feed into the main problem with this episode. The whole thing felt watered way down. Especially after the hints about some horrific medical experiments taking place at the fort. I love a good horrific medical experiment story, so I was looking forward to that.
But that’s not what happened. Instead, it was a watered-down alien invasion story with a bunch of people who did their best and failed. It just felt like, frankly, not enough. It felt like there could have been so much more, should have been so much more. Instead, we got the Great Value version of what we could have had.
At this point, I think I’m too invested to give up. After all, there’s just one more episode left. But I’d be lying if I said that was something I’m looking forward to.
(3 / 5)
This season of Goosebumps has been kind of slow so far. While there have certainly been some fun moments, it’s been more misses than hits. But The Girl Next Door turned that around.
It also felt like it was tailor-made for someone like me. Millennials love nostalgia, and this episode had that in droves. But you know what we also love?
Found footage.
The story
We begin our episode with Anthony in Dr. Pamani’s lab. He’s really gone to pieces. And rather than trying to put him back together, Dr. Pamani seems to want to melt these pieces down.
Meanwhile, the teens gather at Cece and Devin’s grandmother’s nursing home to watch the tape. When they do, they learn more than some of them wanted to about their parents’ childhoods.
Together with them, we see a day or two before Matty and his friends went missing. We see Jen being toxic towards a new girl named Hannah. Yes, this is the same Hannah that Devin is currently spending time with.
Eventually, the rest of the kids realize this too. They go to find Devin, who by that time was very much in need of rescuing.
What worked
Let’s start by talking about the dark comedy in this episode. Because it was legitimately hilarious. Starting with Anthony’s overly calm conversation with our mystery antagonist, Dr. Pamani. He asks her if she killed his brother, and she says no. Then he asks if she’s killing him. Which is a fair question at that time, because she seems to be melting his body parts.
Also, she was smart enough to know about our mystery plant monster but not smart enough to keep her damned face off the doorbell camera. That feels very Boomer and very funny.
As we mentioned earlier, this episode relies heavily on found footage. Namely, the video Anthony and Matty made that caught the final moments of the teens who died at Camp Nightmare. Found footage is catnip for me, so I loved it. But it was also good found footage. It included the lovely little moments we all enjoy, like people asking why someone’s still filming. Or the shocked looks of people recording things they weren’t supposed to hear. And, of course, the sad moments that are only sad in hindsight. Like Anthony and Matty’s last game of table tennis.
I won’t lie, I almost teared up at that one.
- Goosebumps available now on Disney+!”HOW COME I’VE NEVER SEEN YOU BEFORE?”Hannah’s neighborhood has gotten a little
- weird
- Ever since that new boy moved in next door
Last update on 2025-02-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Finally, I want to talk about Dr. Pamani. Because so far she’s been great. We have no idea if she’s going to end up as a friend or enemy. And I think it largely is going to depend on the circumstances. She doesn’t have the same goals as the teens, but I don’t know that her goals are bad. She is only interested in containing these monster plants. This is a worthy goal. She isn’t going to care if some kids and their parents die in her efforts to save the world, though. This seems like it would be an acceptable loss for her. So while she isn’t exactly bad, she isn’t good either. And I’m sure if push comes to shove, she’ll shove.
What didn’t work
As much as I loved Dr. Pamani, I am sad to say I wasn’t as pleased with Hannah. Going into this episode, I was expecting her to be a pod person. Creation of the plant creature. I noticed she looked a bit like a mix between Alex and Frankie, and thought the plant might have taken some of their DNA and made a body for itself. But, if you’ve read the book this episode is named after, I bet you know that wasn’t Hannah’s story. But that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
We haven’t been dealing with ghosts this whole season. And episode six of an eight episode season isn’t when we should start throwing in new world rules. We had an antagonist the characters were dealing with. We didn’t need another one.
There are only two episodes left in the season, so things should be wrapping up. I’m excited to see how they handle it. And interested to see if everyone’s making it out of the basement alive.
(4 / 5)
Movies n TV
Starve Acre: The womb of nature
JACK; on our land, engraved his name, Dandelion, Devil, one and the same,
Made end by the townsfolk, he was cast’d away,
Into the thick of hellish fray.
Set against the brooding, mist-shrouded landscapes of 1970s Yorkshire, Starve Acre (2023) is a chilling folk horror adaptation of Andrew Michael Hurley’s acclaimed novella. Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy) and featuring compelling performances from Matt Smith (Dr. Who) and Morfydd Clark (The Rings of Power), the film explores the effects of a child’s loss on a marriage, weaving a tapestry of atmospheric suspense and unsettling dread.
- Starve Acre (DVD + Blu-ray) Director: Daniel Kokotajlo Daniel Kokotajlo’s impressive follow-up to his award-winning Apostasy is a brilliant adaptation of Andrew Michael Hurley’s acclaimed novel
- In 1970s Yorkshire, Richard and Juliette relocate to Richard’s childhood home, hoping the idyllic country surroundings will benefit their young son
- However, a sudden tragic event drives a wedge through the family, which triggers Richard, an academic archaeologist, to bury himself in obsessively exploring a local folkloric myth
Last update on 2025-02-24 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The Plot.
Richard (Matt Smith) and Jules (Morfydd Clark), seeking respite from their son Owen’s (Arthur Shaw) debilitating asthma, relocate to Richard’s isolated childhood home in rural Yorkshire.
Richard, a college lecturer specializing in history and archeology, soon begins delving into his late father’s unsettling belongings, dredging up painful memories, and the unsettling history of the property, called Starve Acre, and an ancient tree that used to grow on the heart of it. He discusses the tree with his son and they make a pact to find the roots of the tree that must surely still be buried underground somewhere.
Meanwhile, Owen’s behavior takes a disturbing turn. He struggles to integrate into the village, culminating in a disturbing act of violence against an animal during a local fair, ostracizing the family from the community. (Trigger warning: This scene depicts animal cruelty.) The isolation and escalating tension amplify the family’s growing mental strain. An unseen, malevolent presence, known as Jack Grey or Jack Dandelion, begins to manifest, weaving its way into their already fractured reality and drawing them into a terrifying descent.
Highlights.
At its core, Starve Acre is a harrowing exploration of parental grief, a theme masterfully conveyed through Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark’s exceptional performances. The film’s reliance on prolonged, intimate close-ups demands a profound emotional vulnerability. Smith and Clark navigate this vulnerability with remarkable skill, avoiding melodrama and delivering powerful performances. Their palpable chemistry, further enhanced by the film’s intimate visual style, underscores the profound tragedy at the heart of the story, moving it past mere folk horror genre conventions, showcasing the power of casting to illuminate the depths of human suffering.
Drawbacks.
The only thing that threw me off watching this movie was the pacing. It was slow, which is fine with this type of rural, atmospheric suspense, but it began to drag just a little too much. As mentioned in the highlights, the film relies on prolonged close-ups to achieve its atmosphere, this is okay when highlighting emotion, but when the camera is held on the misty rural backdrop for more than 10 seconds, I can only say that the cinematographer is overindulging just a bit.
- The worst thing possible has happened
- Richard and Juliette Willoughby’s son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five
- Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place
Last update on 2025-02-24 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The Final Take.
Starve Acre elevates Andrew Michael Hurley’s novella in surprising ways. While the book thrives on ambiguity, the film illuminates its shadowy corners, providing a satisfying sense of clarity. This expansion enriches the overall experience, making both the film and the novella essential companions. Whether you’ve read or watched one, the other will deepen your appreciation of this unsettling tale.
(4 / 5)
