Movie Review: Doctor Sleep (2019)

Synopsis: Years after his father went insane at the haunted Overlook Hotel, an adult Danny Torrance is an alcoholic who has been forced to use his psychic abilities to defend himself against the starving ghosts that are still pursuing him. When he begins communicating telepathically with 13-year-old Abra Stone, he realizes she is in danger from a group of psychic vampires that feed on people like them.

Who's in it? The movie stars Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis and Emily Alyn Lind.

Review: As I've said before, I'm not normally a big fan of movies based off of Stephen King books and usually don't go out of my way to watch them. However, my oldest daughter wanted to see this film and I added it to my Netflix DVD list as a result. We finally watched it this weekend and, unfortunately, it wound up being exactly what I thought it would be.

The reality is, not all Stephen King books work as movies. There was some potential with this one, because it was a sequel to The Shining (one of the rare movies I consider an exception) but, ultimately, I feel it is one of those books.

I think the biggest problem this movie has, is it is really dull. The plot is somewhat complex, and, in addition to remembering characters from the first movie, you need to keep track of a whole mess of new ones. This, in itself, wouldn't have been a big deal if there were some legitimately memorable action or horror scenes to break things up a bit. But there just weren't enough of those to succeed in that.

A large part of the problem, in my opinion, is there was never any real suspense. Because Abra (Curran) was able to use her psychic abilities to track the vampires, her and Danny (McGregor) were always able to stay one step ahead of them. As a result, at no point in this movie, did I feel as though their lives were in any real danger. In fact, Abra was powerful enough to pretty much end the vampires from the comfort of her own living room but, for the sake of the movie happening, just dragged things out.

Final Opinion: If you are a big Stephen King fan, you might enjoy this film. But, if you are watching it because you like horror movies, you are probably going to be disappointed by it. 

My Grade: C

Comments

  1. I really don't remember The Shining but I know I've seen it, I haven't seen this one & don't think I am.

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