Danny Torrance has learnt to control his demons from Dick Halloran, but the traumatic events of the Overlook Hotel have left him as an alcoholic who struggles to hold down a job. He is living a nomadic life style and washes up in a small town in New Hampshire where he meets Billy Freeman. Billy gets him accommodation, into an alcohol rehabilitation group, and even finds him a job. Danny cleans up his act and settles into his new life. One night he meets Abra Stone, a teenager with the brightest shine he has ever seen. Abra and Danny are able to contact each other via a blackboard painted wall in Danny’s room. He learns there is a cult of evil beings called The True Knot, who are led by Rose the Hat, and who have murdered a young kid. The True Knot have become aware of Abra and are tracking her down in order to gain her shine, Danny will do everything in his power to protect her, including returning to the Overlook.

For those who somehow have missed the whole Stephen King thing, the dark thinker out of Maine, USA wrote a sequel to his behemoth best-selling The Shinning (1977) in the form of Doctor Sleep (2013). This is in the face of an absolute continued explosion of demands for a sequel to Salem’s Lot, oh how contrary we have become Mr King. Anyways just filling in the blanks, let’s get down with the movie, book review to follow in due course.

Returning from the first movie is Doc (Danny Torrance), who is now all grown up and fighting his own demons, real and psychological. I guess we could also include his Mom returning along with Dick Halloran, but to be honest this is more about narrative development than full character inclusion. Also making a major appearance in the movie is the Overlook hotel and its assorted ghostly denizens. If you haven’t watched or read The Shinning then you can dig into this movie, not surprisingly what you need to know from the previous title is pretty much covered in enough detail to rock on.

Mike Flanagan, who seems to have picked up the torch of filming King novels and stories from Rob Reiner, takes his time to get his movie rocking. We are introduced to both Danny and Abra, and learn Danny has finally been able to control his ghosts from the Overlook, but at huge personal cost. Abra shines on like a lighthouse.  One of the interesting aspects of this excellent introduction is Danny’s new job as an orderly in I guess an old folks palliative care facility. He noticed a cat named Azrael, who he calls Azzy, that has the ability to sense when someone is dying and sits on their bed through their final moments. Danny recognises this and offers succour to the dying patients as well, via his shine.

Sorry slight detour here.  Azrael is the Angel of death in Islam and some sects of Judaism, which I guess given the context means Azreal is a pussy; sorry for any offence committed. Anyways if you are guessing foreshadowing then you would be right, but hey spoilers not going to add the why to the claim. Given Danny’s background, which is all about ghosts, his current occupation that involves death you can kind of see how cool this plot point is. Stephen King as ever is never going to let the literary stylings sit dormant when he can use them to excellent effect. Okay back to the here and now.

Having established our focal characters Flanagan spends time with Rose the Hat and her True Knot. They basically track down other people who shine and feed off their victim’s shine as a sort of mist or steam as Rose refers to it. This allows them a much longer life but they are not immortal. Flanagan shows the diverse Knot hunting down number nineteen, a young baseball player who can read what ball a pitcher is sending to him. They entrance him into their clutches and later murder him for his steam. Flanagan isn’t pulling punches here, the more traumatised the victim the better the quality of steam, and shows Rose going to work with a knife on the young boy. Hold onto your linen kids, Flanagan pulls a Tobe Hooper here; you think you see a hell of a lot more than you actual do. But it certainly shows The True Knot are vampires of a sort who are pretty blood thirsty.

Naturally Danny, Abra, and Billy Freeman come into conflict with The True Knot, as Rose becomes aware of Abra and wants her steam. After a disastrous confrontation for the True Knot with Danny’s crew, and the eventual death of Rose’s right hand man Crow Daddy, Danny and Abra square off against Rose and are outgunned. All roads lead to the Outlook and Danny chooses this as the final battle ground, hoping to utilise the denizens of the Hotel that have been locked away. Things are not going to go as we expect them to.

The Director takes time out of his busy schedule to I guess, cameo each of the well-known ghosts the Overlook contains. Stephen King fans are going to be right across this and I am pretty sure even if you aren’t an expert on The Shining you won’t be missing out. While I guess in the modern age Flanagan will be accused of fan servicing, for the rest of us who don’t spend our time finding a problem with every single movie ever made it is appreciated. We even get a discussion of alcoholism, the allure of the drunken state, and the dangers inherent. If you have spent time with The Shining you’ll recognise this as an ongoing theme. 

Flanagan, and for that matter King, leave room for another sequel. I guess we’ll need to wait to see if King fires up the word processor and writes that sequel. I can kind of see this as an ongoing movie series that presents even more dangers for those that shine, though we will need some new heroes in the next movie. Surprisingly Flanagan does end the movie on an up note, as things actually get pretty bleak toward the end of the movie. 

The Director delivers yet another excellent movie that is well paced, has a superbly performing cast, and has pacing that ensures the viewer is engrossed in what they are seeing. I was pretty happy with what I watched, and for sure have the movie on repeat screening, and know it will work for most viewers, not just those travelling by the byways of the Kingdom. Full recommendation, this is a movie that will work for even non-horror fans, yes it’s that good. There was certainly no danger of falling asleep while watching this movie, Flanagan once again proves why he is one of the best currently working in the business.

Just a slight personal story here, hey continue with your day if not interested. I was out and about with my wife who was visiting a clinic, she is a medical professional, and checked in with one of the major movie suppliers that had this movie on its shelves. Naturally picked up a copy, but when I got to check out was told it shouldn’t be on the shelves just yet and they couldn’t sell me a copy. What the actual frack! On the bright side a couple of shops down and no problems buying the movie, with the chick behind the counter having no problems selling the flick.