Sunday, November 17, 2019

Screaming Sunday - Doctor Sleep

By s. Sunday, November 17, 2019 , ,
Rating 71/100
Plot:  Years following the events of "The Shining," a now-adult Dan Torrance meets a young girl with similar powers as he tries to protect her from a cult known as The True Knot who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.
The heroes: Grown up Danny Torrance and a capable little girl named Abra.
The antagonists: Child murderers led by Rose the Hat, played by amazing Rebecca Ferguson.
What makes it so great? While I didn't like this movie as much as a lot of people did, this is definitely the most competently made Stephen King's adaption in 2019. In the Tall Grass was awful, Pet Semetery was dumb as hell and, while very entertaining, It: Chapter Two is a chaotic mess. But this right here is a proper movie, with decent script, character work and editing.

It does a very good job of reconciling King's novels with Kubrick's movie but I found the recasting of the actors from The Shining to be very jarring. In this day and age it is possible to do so much with CGI and I was taken out of the movie because I knew the intention was for the actors to resemble Duvall, Lloyd and Nicholson but they didn't manage to do that. It was very distracting whenever their characters showed up. Other than that, the big issue is that film is way too long. But it's still a good movie and it goes to very dark and gritty places at times. The whole thing with the junkie mother and her kid reached such a disturbing conclusion, which was impressive for a mainstream horror film and echoed the awful and nightmarish occurrences that happen in King's works - which are so terrible because they happen in real life too.

The best thing here is definitely Rebecca Ferguson's wickedly delicious performance as the main villain Rose the Hat. Not only is Ferguson's look in this film amazing and is bound to inspire many Halloween costumes in the future, but she is legitimately chilling and intimidating. Ewan McGregor, who is always great, turns in a another capable performance and confidently leads the movie. There film also has lovely cinematography, especially during the fantastic astral projection sequence, as well as terrific score which incorporated many motifs from The Shining.
Oh-oh something's not right line: Well, hi there.
Morbid Trivia: According to director Mike Flanagan, the performance of Jacob Tremblay during the first take of his death scene was so intense that it surprised and scared the other actors, including Rebecca Ferguson, who was so horrified she was stammering and "couldn't get her lines out". When the scene was over, a grinning Tremblay jumped up, covered in fake blood, high-fived his father and walked over to the craft service to get a snack, leaving Ferguson and the rest of the cast "shell-shocked and traumatized".
Scare factor: - 3/5 evil pumpkins - It's not a particularly scary movie but it features some really nightmarish imagery. Also the aforementioned scene involving Tremblay is quite hard to watch.
Gore factor:3/5 bloody Leatherfaces - there are some fairly creepy moments here, the worst one involving a hand. Flanagan already brought me close to vomiting with the similar thing in Gerald's Game and while this shit here isn't nearly as awful it was pretty damn terrible too.
Is there a twist? There are few small twists and the appearances of the characters from The Shining are quite surprising, as jarring as they are because of the recasting
Hint: Watch The Shining before this.
Unsuitable for: Parents.
Repercussions: You will accompany your child on his way home at all times.

14 comments:

  1. Tremblay traumatized ME watching this. He was way too convincing.

    I was so thrown off by Ferguson's accent. Is that how she normally sounds? I don't think I've ever heard her give an interview before lol.

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    1. I think that's how she normally speaks, at least from what I remember when she was on Graham Norton :)

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  2. Rebecca was so good! And I appreciated that they didn't pull any punches with Rose- right down to the physical stuff like the fight at the end. I think the film will do much better when people can pick it up on streaming.

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    1. It's such a shame it's not doing well at the box office :(

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  3. I'm going to have to watch The Shining, I guess. I love the book, and Doctor Sleep... kind of annoyed that I Have to watch the movie to see THIS. But I'll do it, I guesssssssssssss. XD great review. I also love Rebecca Ferguson and adore her casting as Rose the Hat.

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    1. Rebecca is amazing! i'll try to braid my hair like she has in the movie tomorrow lol

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  4. Although I know I won’t love Doctor Sleep to the same degree as The Shining, ”most competently made Stephen King adaption in 2019” is encouraging. Shame about the distracting recasting you mention.

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    1. Yeah it really didn't work for me but a lot of people didn't find it that distracting so maybe it works for you!

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  5. I reviewed this Monday and I gotta say I was absolutely stunned by how much I loved this movie. I had no real expectations but ended up loving every bit of it. And Ferguson steals the show. It's worth seeing just for her performance alone.

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    1. I've been braiding hair like Rebecca's character all week long lol Such a great performance and the look of the character

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  6. Tremblay’s scenes made me sick. I almost vomited at some point.

    I too loved Rebecca. She gives such a great performance and made me fall in love with the character.

    I’m glad you enjoyed it too. Nice review :)

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    1. Thank you! Jacob is an insanely talented actor, it's great that he keeps making all those movies, he was in several this year alone

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  7. Jacob Tremblay was such a nice treat. I didn't connect with the actress who played Abra that well but I still liked that scene where she kicks Rose the Hat's ass! That was an amazing scene. It was maybe a bit.. I don't know.. too wide? Like the movie was so well grounded despite the supernatural aspects but that floating scene in space kind of took it too far off but otherwise the sequence looked gorgeous. Definitely liked it but just didn't love it fully.

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    1. I thought it was still more plausible than whatever that ritual in It 2 was :)

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