By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
With
?Doctor Sleep,? horror master
Stephen King builds upon ?The Shining? novel and the 1980 movie of the same name which was directed and written by ?Stanley Kubrick.
?Doctor. Sleep,? from director
Mike Flanagan (?Before I Wake?), is a dark and sprawling chapter that finds Danny Torrance--the son of Jack Nicholson?s Jack Torrance in the original movie?now all grown up.
Try as he might, Danny (Ewan McGregor, ?Christopher Robin?) can?t shake all the ghosts and demons from his childhood which occurred at the Overlook Hotel.
Danny?s supernatural powers are still very much intact, and he does his best to cope with everything. He?s a recovering alcoholic in a 12-step program at a hospice in New Hampshire that?s run by Dr. John Dalton (Bruce Greenwood, TV?s ?The Resident?).
Danny spends his time working at the hospice and develops a friendship with community leader Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis, ?Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw?). His bedside manner, along with his special powers, help ease the transition of the dying patients.
But Danny?s most frightening and biggest challenge comes when he meets a 13-year-old girl named Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran making an impressive debut ).
Abra has phenomenal abilities like Danny that are known as ?The Shine.? She needs Danny to help her because there?s an eerie cult called the True Knot who prey on children with ?Shining? powers so that they can remain immortal.
Teaming with Abra comes at a great cost for Danny as it brings him face to face once again with the very demons, he fought so hard to escape.
Although ?Doctor Sleep? is rather indulgent and runs nearly 2 ? hours, some of the torture scenes?particularly one involving Jacob Tremblay (?Room? and ?Good Boys?)?are rather graphic and not for the squeamish.
Still, ?Doctor Sleep? has enough suspense and intrigue to keep horror fans from dozing off.
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Check Out This Trailer For
"DOCTOR SLEEP"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.