Dr Sleep, a sequel to Stephen King’s classic novel, The Shining, has been adapted into a film, making this film a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s classic film, The Shining.  Now, there’s been a long history of hate towards Kubrick’s master visionary horror, and there’s love for Mike Flanagan’s adaption. Is Dr Sleep as good or better than the Shining? NO. It’s surprisingly better than most modern Paranormal/possession films, with no forced over the top jump scares every 5 seconds, no RUNNINGUPTOTHESCREENREALLYFASTANDSCREAMING, it’s filmed in vein of The Shining.

There are scenes which are creative and inspired, then there’s remade scenes for flashbacks ( done pretty well, but archive footage still does the job).   Ewen Mcgreggor plays Danny Loyd, who has grown up and struggled with alcohol, he soon finds ground and a new friend, but his past still shines with him. There’s a cult, an evil, dreadful cult of people you will hate ( but respect the cast for their work, they are good, not as gripping as the doppleganger family in Us, but the True Knot Tribe are good to give you a shock and chill) . So, after a pretty cool hang over shot ( overhead shot for those who don’t know much about camera angles) to open the film, we have a flashback and get to know our villains and then another of Danny and Wendy ( both played well by Roger David Floyd and Alex Essoe respectively).

Then we jump to present day, we get to know more of Danny’s life and how he refinds himself. We then get to know Abra (Kyliegh Curran) who has the power. There’s also some moments with Dick Harrolan ( played convincingly well by Carl Lumby, this is fine casting, Carl does a good representation of Scatman Crother’s portrayal) and it’s all go from here with tips and soon to be tricks.

So, not to spoil anything major, we have good vs evil then the showdown in hell pretty much, there’s a surprise, a damn cool surprise at the end, and this role is again done very well. The music is there and paced well to suit the scenes, and there’s a major sigh of relief and satisfaction when a long awated slew of moments happen, this will make you cheer.

So, Doctor Sleep is a fairly solid horror, it may be a bit gimmicky, but it isn’t cliched or very predictable. A good follow up with heart in the right place, but out of the mind experience.

6.5/10

-Scary.