Dr. Sleep Review
Stephen King once said that to be a child is to learn how to live while being an adult is to learn how to die. After watching this movie I understand that what he meant is that the first half of our lives is learning how to live while the second half is learning how to die. The first time I saw The Shining I remember being between 11 and 17 years old. What stuck with me the most was how long and somewhat violent it was. That and the fact that I didn't even know if it was a zombie movie, psychological horror, or whatever. But even though I liked horror movies since I was 12 I never found it much compared to the other movies like The Ring, The Blob, Tremors 2, or The Exorcist (since I didn't even know who Stanley Kubrick was back then), despite usually reading King’s books before watching the film. So I found it curious that even though King decided to make a sequel decades later, it was all they needed to adapt right away (or at least 6 years later). Well not only does it manage to be terrifying but it even serves to connect on several levels to The Shining in the best possible way (especially for a horror film): little by little. But while not many people appreciate this decision, King (or perhaps the director, Mike Flanagan) knew that 1980 was almost four decades ago. Horror hadn't just changed: it evolved. Without getting into spoiler territory, there's definitely a fairly graphic scene (involving a sacrifice) that veers into "torture porn" territory just to, ironically enough, justify the 80s aesthetic that the film decides to return to in the process. While this did bother me at first it also reminded me of how the first Shining movie didn't make me feel all that different (thanks to the iconic scene with the twins) the first time I saw it. I guess, just like its protagonist Danny, Dr. Sleep is like the second half of his life knowing that there are many like him who are learning how to live in today's world and that there are kids like Abra with that same gift who can use it for good and people like Rose who use it for evil. Of course obviously those who see The Shining as a masterpiece, like any other film by Mr. Kubrick, are most likely not going to see the same with this one (even though Stephen King is not one of the formers). But it’s still one of the better Stephen King adaptations.