Stephen King: Doctor Sleep ‘redeems’ Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE director Mike Flanagan's adaptation of DOCTOR SLEEP – Stephen King's sequel to THE SHINING –  hits this Friday. And today King admits that DOCTOR SLEEP redeems everything that he ever disliked about Stanley Kubrick's version of THE SHINING.

King admits:

I read the script to this one very, very carefully. Because obviously I wanted to do a good job with the sequel because people knew the book The Shining, and I thought, I don’t want to screw this up. Mike Flanagan, I’ve enjoyed all his movies, and I’ve worked with him before on Gerald’s Game. So, I read the script very, very carefully and I said to myself, ‘Everything that I ever disliked about the Kubrick version of The Shining is redeemed for me here.'

Yeah… so I'm looking forward to DOCTOR SLEEP and all that, but King hating on Kubrick's film has got to end at some point, right? Will this finally be it? Will King finally be able to see Kubrick's version for what it is? Sigh. Time will tell. 

The movie has been slapped with an R-rating for "disturbing and violent content, some bloody images, language, nudity and drug use", and will run 2 hours and 32 minutes. You can go ahead and give the trailer a look-see above and then make sure to hit us up and let us know what you think!

It has the following synopsis: 

Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “shine.” Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality.

Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before — at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.

The much-anticipated flick also stars Kyleigh Curran as Abra Stone, Carl Lumbly as Dick Halloran, Alex Essoe as Wendy Torrance, Bruce Greenwood as Danny's friend Dr. John Dalton, Rebecca Ferguson as cult leader Rose the Hat, Zahn McClarnon as her right-hand man Crow Daddy, and Jocelin Donahue in an unspecified role. Mike Flanagan's adaptation of Stephen King's DOCTOR SLEEP shines into theaters on November 8, 2019. 

RELATED: DOCTOR SLEEP SET VISIT: EVERYTHING WE LEARNED

Source: EW

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