Doctor Sleep (Blu-Ray)

It's tempting to stop oneself from comparing Doctor Sleep to the Shining, particularly given the legacy that the latter has enjoyed in recent decades, that it might be an unfair one given how much Kubrick's film has been built up over the course of countless reviews and examinations. And it's true, it's not a fair comparison. Doctor Sleep surpasses the Shining in every capacity. This movie FEELS like King. It has the spirit, the wonder of the unknown and the terror that can sometimes bring that permeates King's work. This isn't some cold, analytical self-gratification of cinematography with the husk of King's work papered over it for the sake of calculated plot points, it's a living, sentient story of people and their experiences. Experiences that transcend the natural world and delve into the world of King's supernatural. And it's King's world that Doctor Sleep pulls you headlong into, and walks you through hand in hand with its extraordinary characters. Characters which are built up as people, and then explored as something much more. We're taken into their minds, their fears, their connections with each other, and their individual growths and/or deconstructions, where the world and unworld is explored via their abilities and never is the viewer let down or led astray, or otherwise disrespected. This is a masterful film. It's masterful in a way that you may not appreciate until it's been a week since the viewing and you realized how much it has stuck with you. Everywhere you look, plot, story, direction, acting—the movie balances everything brilliantly and with a deftness that few can comprehend much less produce. Mike Flanagan is running on all boilers here, as are the actors who pull off their roles almost flawlessly, including the wonderful Kyliegh Curran, who pulled off a challenging role that I'm not so sure other child actors could have mustered. She isn't just competent, she's a presence, both calm and forceful, and vulnerable when necessary without betraying the power of her character. Again, masterful. If a great horror movie is the fear of going to the bathroom or stepping into an unlit room late at night, Doctor Sleep is the power of consuming that terror whole and raw, and then moving to the spaces beyond it, where the connections between us bind and enlighten, and the darkness is just a necessary part of the process of illumination. Doctor Sleep currently has 78% on RT. This is preposterous. It's offensive to the medium, and to the very idea of critical analysis of the arts as an intellectual pursuit. Doctor Sleep isn't just one of the best horror movies ever made, it's significantly more than a horror movie. It's far more deserving of the lofty pedestal so many have placed it's predecessor upon, and I fear it will be decades more before it is appreciated and enjoyed like it should be. Not because I want the film to be venerated, but because it's wonderful and a lot of people would benefit from experiencing it, as would the medium itself. 5 stars, and not one hydrogen or helium atom less.

It's very rare that a Stanley Kubrick movie gets a sequel, but not unheard of. The last time it was done was in 1984 with the film "2010: The Year We Make Contact," which of course was a sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey." There have been talks of a sequel to "The Shining" long before Stephen King ever wrote "Doctor Sleep" but the novel "Doctor Sleep" is a sequel to the novel "The Shining," which is radically different than Kubrick's film. That said, the genius who made this movie decided on the idea of not only adapting "Doctor Sleep" into a movie but making it set in the same cinematic universe as Stanley Kubrick's version of "The Shining." This was a brilliantly creative move because it sets up a film that is familiar to both avid Stephen King readers (which I am) and fans of Kubrick's horror masterpiece (which I also am). This movie satisfies on every level. I saw it in theaters in November of 2019 and was absolutely blown away by how well it's done. The movie has some flashbacks set after the events of the Overlook Hotel for Danny and his mother Wendy. The filmmakers got lookalikes for young Danny, Shelly Duvall, Scatman Crothers and I hope I'm not giving anything away here, but there's even a Jack Nicholson lookalike. But then the movie shifts to many, many years later with a grown up Danny, now just going by Dan and like his father, he's become a hopeless alcoholic. He wanders from town to town partying and getting blackout drunk, haunted by the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel. He eventually gets his life together and becomes an orderly at a hospice where the tenants there refer to him as "Doctor Sleep," because of his unusual psychic powers. But soon after he comes in contact with a teenage girl who has the same power as he does-- "the shining," and she shines brighter than anyone he's ever encountered which attracts the attention of the villainous "True Knot," a band of psychic vampires who travel across America and feed on people, mostly children with the shining and use their life essence to live unusually long lives. This all leads Dan back to a place he's tried very hard to forget, a place we all know very well. I was delighted that this Blu-Ray included a director's cut! The director's cut is about a half hour longer than the theatrical cut (which is also included with this) and fills in a lot of the gaps by extending conversations between characters and lengthening scenes here and there throughout the movie. It also gives the movie chapters, I want to say there's four or five of them, maybe even six across the director's cut's three hour run time. You get a lot of movie, here and it's all done extremely well. Everything from the set direction to the score is designed to imitate Kubrick's trademark feel that the original "The Shining" gave off and it does it excellently. The direction and and acting is all top notch and it's a shame that this movie didn't do better at the box office (despite being a critical success, it performed poorly in theaters-- God knows why, I guess everyone was too busy watching a Megan Fox movie about giant robots using offensive slang) because I really think this was my movie of the year for 2019. I saw a bunch of movies in theaters in 2019, but I only liked three of them and this one was the best. It's everything a fan of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" could possibly ask for in a sequel. See it!

Very good sequel to The Shining. I found it amazing how they resurrected the Overlook Hotel and got every meticulous detail down to the endth degree. I liked the actors who reprised the roles of the original characters from the first film. They did a tremendous job.

Excellent movie

If you watch this as a sequel to the shining, it'll disappoint a bit. As a standalone, or flanker to the shining, it's a well done film with significant talent. Rose the hat in particular is excellent.

Great movie but the digital codes are missing, despite being clearly displayed on the blu ray case.

I love this movie I’ll probably just buy it next time

Great movie

A love letter to Stephen King and Kubrick.

Die DVD lief einwandfrei. Nix zu Bemengeln. Film ist super.

Très bonne reception , super !!

Got this for my mom and myself. Shipping was pretty fast as I was too sick to drive around lately. I really wanted the digital copy as the product listing stated, as well as the bottom of the front face of the case. There was no digital code for the movie in the case. It was a bit disappointing. The movie is great though!

Film carino e divertente , seguito di Shining. Blu ray pieno di contenuti. Audio e video impeccabili. Valutate voi l ' acquisto