The trailer for Doctor Sleep picks up where The… | Little White Lies

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The trail­er for Doc­tor Sleep picks up where The Shin­ing left off

13 Jun 2019

Words by Charles Bramesco

A person with curly hair in profile, looking pensive against a dark background.
A person with curly hair in profile, looking pensive against a dark background.
The new hor­ror film gives Stan­ley Kubrick’s clas­sic a chill­ing sequel.

While the debate over the best Stephen King adap­ta­tion will like­ly rage into eter­ni­ty, any seri­ous con­ver­sa­tion must include Stan­ley Kubricks take on The Shin­ing. A mes­mer­iz­ing spi­ral into mad­ness and hys­te­ria, it still com­mands crit­i­cal esteem and mid­night movie crowds near­ly 40 years later.

No easy task to fol­low up such a feat, and yet that’s pre­cise­ly what the new trail­er for the sequel Doc­tor Sleep assays to accom­plish. Based on a 2013 nov­el penned by King him­self, the new film rejoins Dan­ny Tor­rance as a grown-up with the rugged good looks of Ewan McGre­gor.

Dan­ny finds him­self falling into his father’s old pat­terns, such as mak­ing con­tact with flash­es of a sur­re­al unknown, and pur­su­ing a robust career in alco­holism. While attempt­ing to make sense of his haunt­ing mem­o­ries, Dan­ny dis­cov­ers a cult feed­ing off of the ener­gy from chil­dren that their leader (Rebec­ca Fer­gu­son) refers to as steam.”

In a depar­ture from most of King’s work, this film takes place not in Maine, but in New Hamp­shire. It’s impor­tant for nov­el­ists with longevi­ty to con­tin­ue to stretch their repertoire.

We’re in boom times for Stephen King adap­ta­tions, and if the impend­ing sec­ond install­ment of killer-clown saga It draws a mon­strous box-office on par with its predecessor’s, that trend won’t flag any time soon. If you’re a par­tial­ly-decom­posed cat, a homi­ci­dal­ly pos­sessed car, or any oth­er ghoul with a lik­ing for the cool climes of New Eng­land, that’s good news.

Doc­tor Sleep comes to cin­e­mas in the UK on 31 Octo­ber, and then the US on 8 November.

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