Doctor Sleep

Although Ewan McGregor does yeoman work as the grown up Danny Torrance from The Shining who is struggling with his inherited demons of alcoholism and violence, it's actually Rebecca Ferguson and newcomer Kyliegh Curran who steal just about every scene they're in. As Rose The Hat, the swivel hipped villainous leader of a group of effective vampires, Ferguson gives every impression that she knows what goes where and why, if you know what I mean. It's easy for the viewer (and in universe her child victims) to forget that she's mean as a rattlesnake and as relentless as a great white shark. Curran will hopefully have a long career in front of her as her interpretation of Abra Stone nails down the easy confidence and also naivete of youth. In a world where most people with the shining are like 300 watt light bulbs, Abra is akin to a hydrogen bomb. Curran and Ferguson were very well cast.

The movie lampshades some themes from the book but unless you read the book it's not worth mentioning. What is worth mentioning is that the film shows a little strain at trying to reconcile King's famous dislike of Kubrick's adaptation of his work, Kubrick's iconic scenes, and King's sequel. The result is that this is more of an action/thriller movie with supernatural overtones than a horror movie. This film lacks the isolation, coldness and creepiness that filled Kubrick's work. I don't think there will be any scenes from this movie that will still be referenced thirty years later. Still, given the constant threat that Rose The Hat and her "True Knot" of followers pose to children and the relative ease with which they prey on them, some film scenes may well give parents the heebie-jeebies. This film has a R rating, most likely for fleeting and implied scenes of violence against children. It could have just as easily got an R rating for scenes of Ferguson stretching.

This was a good, but not great film. It ran a little longer than I thought it should have.