Dr. Sleep aka “Remember when that happened?” :The Movie” (2019)

Director: Mike Flanagan

Score: 1 / 5

With the release of the Dr. Sleep director’s cut on HBO Max, I figured I’d give it a watch to see if my opinions had changed since seeing it in theaters in November. Surprise, I still don’t like this movie. Now, obviously everyone loves The Shining. It’s an iconic horror/thriller that will surely stand the rest of time and be talked about/studied for years and years and years to come. It’s a fact that even though Kubrick butchered the original King story, it’s still fantastic all around. However, I cannot say the same about the sequel at all. Dr Sleep feels more like a nostalgia cash grab rather than a “love letter” to the original movie like advertised.

First of all, I have never been a fan of Mike Flanagan at all. I know a lot of people really like him though, and that’s just fine, his style of directing might just not be for me. My opinions on his projects range from “meh” to “I’d rather swig Clorox than watch this”, and this movie stands right in the middle for me. Just good enough to be watchable, but not entertaining enough to keep me bored through the whole film. Which to me, is the worst kind of movie, especially a highly anticipated sequel. To make sure I wasn’t crazy or anything, I watched Gerald’s Game a few days ago. Since I knew it was a Flanagan film, and I wanted to get more familiar with his filmmaking. I noticed a lot of his movies have the same problems and Dr. Sleep is no exception.

For starters, Dr. Sleep is way to fucking long as a movie. Two and a half hours is a ridiculous over estimate on how to tell this story. I think they wanted to recreate the epic scale The Shining had, but with Flanagan’s filmmaking style, it all just came off as corny and stupid. The movie itself looks a lot like a tv show, which threw me off right away. None of the charm of the cinematography of The Shining made it into this movie, and it’s sad. Everything was blue, dull, and dark. Like every other goddamn modern horror movie ever. Personally, I think this universe has a lot to offer, and has sort of a reverse “Haunting of Hill House” issue (which was also made by Mike Flanagan lol). While I think Hill House should’ve been edited down to a 2 hour movie, I think this movie would’ve been a great mini series. Where we explore the origins and unknown powers of “Shining”, considering it’s known that there are other people who possess the power. Honestly, If the movie was made by anyone else, in an actual movie making style, I think it would’ve been ok. But, they’d have to change the writing, which is also dogshit. I’m getting so sick and tired of the cornball horror movie cliché of “I’m going to make the stupidest possible decision ever 30 times to move the story along”. Literally the entire 2nd and 3rd act of this movie could have been prevented by one simple decision. It’s so frustrating that the writers of this movie couldn’t be smart enough to think up anything in this universe to move the story along, considering the depth of the universe they’re in.

The acting isn’t great either, but I really enjoyed seeing Ewan McGregor as Danny. I am a huge fan of his, and I think he played the character very well. The child acting was fine, not great, not bad. I hate children anyway, so that was always something I knew I wouldn’t like but just had to accept. But everyone else just wasn’t convincing at all. Especially the villain and her “hinchman”, who I thought was really really dumb. I mean come on, “ Rose The Hat”??? Really??? Do I look stupid??? Basically, all they do is run around and vape out of kids mouths for 2 hours, do a spooky face/mannerism, and chase Danny and his crew around. Nothing about that is scary in the slightest and if they had only gone in a different story direction, and went even deeper into the “Shining” lore, they could’ve made something new, original, and at least interesting.

Speaking of lore, this movie relies entirely too much on “member berries” throughout the film. Especially in the last half hour, which is so fucking stupid and hamfisted, I got second hand embarrassment for the writers. I was scared going into my first watch back in November because I knew Flanagan’s style, but oh boy I didn’t know it would be this bad. Basically, it’s a lot of “remember this scene from The Shining???” From the red elevator, to Danny riding his big wheel as a child, to the stair scene, it’s all redone in the worst way. I could’ve even forgave this decision if they were presented in flashbacks. But of course they didn’t and just settled for callbacks. Which is lazy as hell, and did not impress me in the slightest. You’re never going to recreate anything as good as The Shining, so why do it in the first place?

Overall, it’s safe to say I didn’t like this movie. Infact, I’d even say it’s one of the biggest “misses” of all last year, besides IT Chapter 2. I don’t know what people expected out of a modern day Stanley Kubrik sequel, but it seems a lot of people like this movie. And that’s fine, like what you want, I don’t care. I just hate it because Stephen King is one of my favorite writers of all time. I’ve spent years and years reading his books, and to see these directors butchering these great stories hurts me. I’d say if you’re a casual movie fan you’ll like it. But if you’re like me, and are able to see past the smoke and mirrors, and see what this movie really is, skip it and just watch The Shining again.