Few films have had such a major impact on the cultural psyche as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Despite being loved by generations of horror fans, it has one notable detractor—the author of the original novel, Stephen King himself. The film strays from the source material in a number of important ways, and King was not impressed.
I bring this up because while King’s 2013 follow-up Doctor Sleep is most definitely a sequel to his book and not Kubrick’s movie, the upcoming film adaptation of Doctor Sleep seems to be a sequel to both.
Written and directed by Mike Flanagan (Oculus, The Haunting of Hill House), Doctor Sleep follows grown-up Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) encountering a teenage girl, Abra (Kyliegh Curran), with an extraordinarily powerful “shine.” While Danny’s gift almost led to his death at The Overlook Hotel, destroyed at the end of the first novel, Abra and others like her have a different threat to contend with—The True Knot, a dangerous group of nomads that feed off the lifeforce of innocent children. Rebecca Ferguson (Life) stars as Rose the Hat, the leader of The True Knot, with Alex Essoe (Starry Eyes) as Wendy Torrance and Carl Lumbly (A Cure for Wellness) as Dick Hallorann.
From the first trailer, it appears that Flanagan has recreated iconic moments from Kubrick’s film and even used some footage directly. Could this be the perfect fusion of Kubrick and King? And will this film get King’s seal of approval when it hits theatres on November 8th?
Words: Samantha McLaren (@themeatispeople)
