Movies

'Doctor Sleep' Early Buzz: Critics Are Mostly Warm On Mike Flanagan's Sequel To 'The Shining'

doctor sleep early buzz
By Hoai-Tran Bui

Nearly 40 years after Stanley Kubrick made us all afraid of hotels in his masterful adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining, we're returning to the Overlook Hotel again. Doctor Sleep, King's 2013 sequel to his horror classic, has been adapted into a feature film by Mike Flanagan (Gerald's Game), which has the unenviable task of following up Kubrick's 1980 masterpiece. So, does it live up to the legacy of The Shining?

The Doctor Sleep early buzz is out for the horror sequel starring Ewan McGregor as an older Dan Torrance, following him decades after he and his mother were nearly killed by his father, driven mad by their stay at the isolated Overlook Hotel. Here is what critics have to say about Doctor Sleep.

/Film's Jacob Hall and Chris Evangelista were among those lucky enough to see Doctor Sleep early, and they were divided over whether Flanagan was successful in his follow-up to a daunting classic like The Shining, and whether the director should have forged his own route or stuck by King's book.

A few other reactions agreed with Jacob, praising Doctor Sleep as one of the best Stephen King adaptations yet.

However, a few more came down on the film harshly, criticizing its attempts to recreate the most iconic moments of The Shining.

But divided some may have been on whether the film worked, the reactions were unanimous in praising Rebecca Ferguson, who plays the villain of the film.

Critics and fans seem divided on Doctor Sleep, which some are praising as one of the best Stephen King adaptations yet, and others criticizing it as a poor recreation of The Shining. While the performances by Ferguson and newcomer Curran are being praised, many of the other elements received mixed reactions.

Doctor Sleep stars Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Carl Lumbly, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Bruce Greenwood, Jocelin Donahue, Alex Essoe, and Cliff Curtis.Doctor Sleep opens November 8, 2019.

Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the "shine." Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality.

Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra's innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before—at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.

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