When I watched Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”, I wondered: “What does the shining do?” Can it read minds? Does it allow people to control items? Can I talk to ghosts?
Unfortunately, these questions were never answered. Instead I watched Jack Nicholson slowly descend into madness and chase everyone around with an axe because a ghost told him to. But my questions were answered in “Doctor Sleep”.
Ewan McGregor, sporting the Obi Wan Kenobi beard in the first few minutes of the movie, plays Danny Torrance. He has become an alcoholic wreck after the incident at the Overlook Hotel.
He rarely uses his powers and avoids contact with anyone. However, he finally gets his life back on track after starting up a pen pal like relationship with a girl named Abra Stone, who also has the Shining and is incredibly powerful with it.
It turns out, the Shining allows a person to read minds, take control of people, and do all sorts of telepathic stuff. However, the power of it can also extend a person’s life, which is where the True Knot comes in.
The True Knot is a cult of psychic vampires who seek out children for their shining. The True Knot extracts it in a very horrifying way in order to live a little longer. Causing Danny and Abra to team up to find these creatures and put a stop to their killing spree.
What makes this movie amazing is the directing. Mike Flanagan takes a different approach to a horror movie. Instead of relying on jump scares, he builds tension and focuses on the characters and themes. All to craft perfect scares.
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Flanagan plays with the Shining’s ability and the characters to deliver amazing scares and special effects, showing the viewer the power of the shining.
The cast is also well put together. McGregor, in particular, shines as Danny. The film really shows Danny is struggling to confront the terrifying creatures, because he is still a little boy deep down. But he has to be brave.
Rebecca Ferguson also does a great job as Rose the Hat, the leader of the True Knot. She plays a villain that is so ruthless but still manages to keep the audience anticipating what she is going to do next.
In her film debut, Kyliegh Curran does an outstanding job as Abra, who is the most powerful girl with the shining. She maybe a little girl, but she acts so mature and she handles her gift with ease. Her fight against the cult is amazingbecause she toys with them and lets them know what it’s like to be scared.
Overall, this movie despite containing some key differences from the book, has to be the best Stephen King adaptations I have ever seen. It is also possibly one of the best horror movies out there.
This movie really delivers the scares and tension in a clever way. This movie gets five out of five stars.
Ryan Hill can be reached at [email protected]