Fourteenth Annual FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series: #17 Doctor Sleep

 In which we end this October with a whimper, not with a bang.  Doctor Sleep (2019) is based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, directed by Mike Flanagan (Hush, Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Haunting of Hill House, The Midnight Club, The Haunting of Bly Manor).  It's a sequel to The Shining (book and movie) but hews rather closer to Kubrick's vision than King's sequel.

In a nutshell, little Danny Torrence (Ewan McGregor), who just barely survived that fateful winter at the Overlook Hotel with his mom, is all grown up.  At first, he drinks/drugs/screws around to dampen the demons in his head - he's still got the shine, you see - but visits from ghostly Dick Halloran set him on his path.  He finds a job at a hospice where he (and the resident cat who can tell when a patient is about to die) comforts the residents when they are in their final moments.

Also, there's this supernatural group - the True Knot - who kind of look like carny folk and who travel the country in their RVs, searching out children with psychic abilities (the "shine") so they can torture them and devour their abilities (the "steam") as the children scream and die.  They are lead by Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson, terrific) and Zahn McClarnon ("Officer Big" from the incredible Reservoir Dogs) is on her crew.  When the True Knot catches a kid in Iowa, his dying torment is so huge that it catches the notice of both Danny and young Abra, a teenager incredibly strong in the shine - but Rose notices them too.  Danny and Abra join forces to flee and then fight Rose and her gang.

First of all, distractably shitty New England accents, per usual.  Second, this is a long movie (2.5+ hours) and should either have been a limited television series or maybe Danny didn't need to wander around the Overlook Hotel quite so much, revisiting all the old hauntings.  It drags, is what I'm saying, and I was a little bored if Rose wasn't onscreen.  Third, this movie does do a great job of evoking and revisiting Kubrick's movie, including the casting of Danny's parents in flashbacks and the hotel's set design.  The movie is decent enough but I think Flanagan's television shows are stronger.

You know, I think I'll go watch The Lost Boys again, just to end on a high note.  Consider October extended for just a bit longer.