The movie Doctor Sleep has arrived after 39 years of waiting for a sequel to The Shining written by Mike Flanagan. Bringing back the thrill of the classic “Here’s Johnny” phrase that left fear in fans eyes. It has recently been booming in the box office with over 14 million dollars its first weekend. It had mixed reviews so far with 76% of rotten tomatoes. 

Doctor sleep is a sequel to the classic well-known movie The Shining which gives a different story about the child Dan Torrance. The child from the 1st movie who is now an adult who must protect a young girl with similar powers as him from a dangerous killing cult known as The True Knot, who prey on children with powers to remain immortal. 

 In an article by Business Insider they explain how they heavily pushed the marketing for Doctor Sleep to have lots of connections from The Shining that would bring back the initial feel of one of the classics. The Shining was an adaptation of the book written by Stephen King and was directed by Stanley Kubrick.  

In the film Doctor Sleep Dan Torrance played by Ewan McGregor has what he calls the shining which is psychic powers that he obtained from the traumatizing experiences in the Overlook Hotel. He tries to push away the shine by becoming a heavy alcoholic and staying far away from the hotel.  

This film takes a different approach towards horror by using sound. Throughout the movie during the dull and intense moments there is a slow heavy heartbeat that can be heard, quieting the moments of terror. This is the opposite of what a typical horror movie would do, they would silence the sound right before a jump scare and raise the volume at the moment of the scare.  

Doctor Sleep had no jump scares, instead it used the technique of emotion and psychological fear. Making a moment where there is death make you feel like you are there in the moment. Creating a personal feel to the story and making you more invested. 

Personally, I thought this movie was amazingly created and executed phenomenally. There wasn’t a dull moment where I felt bored because each scene had important details that made the story so powerful.