Doctor Sleephas been hailed as worthy successor toThe Shining. Stephen King says that he is “delighted for Mike Flanagan and company,” over the ecstatic reviews. Flanagan’s adaptation of King’s sequel novel to The Shining has a lot to live up to, thanks to Stanley Kubrick’s take onThe Shining, which is widely considered to be one of the best horror movies of all time. As it turns out, King was right about wanting to get this story out there and it appears that Flanagan was the right person for the job. King had this to say aboutDoctor Sleep.
“Mike Flanagan is a talented director, but he’s also an excellent storyteller. The movie is a good thing. You’ll like this if you likedThe Shining, but you’ll also like it if you likedShawshank. It’s immersive.”
It has already been a pretty amazing year forStephen Kingadaptations on the big and small screens. However, one viewer believes thatDoctor Sleepcould be the best of the bunch. More than one person says that they weren’t prepared for some of the emotional twists and turns, along with more thrilling aspects of the movie. “What a wonderful celebration of Kubrick, King & Mike Flanigan’s career as well,” concludes one early reaction.
Another early viewer says that they were “giddy” becauseDoctor Sleepis so good. Taking a book and adapting it for the big screen is no small feat, especially if the author is Stephen King. The viewer went on to say, “It’s an excellent and faithful adaptation that makes smart changes - especially melding the ‘80 film and the sequel book - and the casting/performances are phenomenal.” Putting Ewan McGregor into a role is usually going to come out with elevated results. The actor recently opened up about taking on the alcohol-fueled scenes in the movie and how close they hit to home, even after being sober for over 20 years.
“Brilliant, disturbing, impressive, clever, emotional, surprising, a visual delight,” is the way another viewer described Mike Flanagan’sDoctor Sleep. In addition to having adapt Stephen King’s source material, Flanagan also had to worry about peoplecomparing the movie to Stanley Kubrick’s work. Instead of trying to make his movie in the style of Kubrick, the director wisely chose to go his own way with the source material. Another early review declares the movie to be, “spooky, emotional, ultimately optimistic. Not only a sequel toThe Shining, but a response to it, an attempt to reconcile King and Kubrick.”
It looks likeDoctor Sleepis going to be a must-see for horror fans after all of these glowing early reviews. Taking onThe Shiningwas a bold move, but it sounds likeMike Flanagan was able to elevate Stephen King’s source material, which is incredibly rare when bringing a book to life on the big screen. Even King is happy with the results, so that has to tell you something. The horror icon usually keeps his mouth shut when he isn’t into his adaptations, or he’ll talk trash if he needs to. you may head over toWarner Bros.for ticketing info and check out some more early reactions below.
