Doctor Sleep forsakes the elemental terror of its predecessor for a more contemplative sequel that balances poignant themes against spine-tingling chills. Read critic reviews
Doctor Sleep
2019, Horror/Mystery & thriller, 2h 31m
336 Reviews 5,000+ Verified RatingsWhat to know
You might also like
See More
Annihilation
The Neon Demon
The Gift
A Simple Favor
Death Wish
Where to watch
Rate And Review
-
What did you think of the movie? (optional)
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
What did you think of the movie? (optional)
How did you buy your ticket?
-
Fandango
-
AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew
-
Cinemark Coming Soon
We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
-
Regal Coming Soon
We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
-
Theater box office or somewhere else
Doctor Sleep Videos
Doctor Sleep Photos
Movie Info
Struggling with alcoholism, Dan Torrance remains traumatized by the sinister events that occurred at the Overlook Hotel when he was a child. His hope for a peaceful existence soon becomes shattered when he meets Abra, a teen who shares his extrasensory gift of the "shine." Together, they form an unlikely alliance to battle the True Knot, a cult whose members try to feed off the shine of innocents to become immortal.
-
Rating: R (Drug Use|Disturbing and Violent Content|Language|Nudity|Some Bloody Images)
-
Genre: Horror, Mystery & thriller
-
Original Language: English
-
Director: Mike Flanagan
-
Producer: Trevor Macy, Jon Berg
-
Writer: Mike Flanagan
-
Release Date (Theaters): wide
-
Release Date (Streaming):
-
Box Office (Gross USA): $31.6M
-
Runtime:
-
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
-
Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos
-
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)
Cast & Crew
News & Interviews for Doctor Sleep
Critic Reviews for Doctor Sleep
Audience Reviews for Doctor Sleep
-
The most impressive characteristic of this balancing act of a film is how it pays respect to both Stephen King's expounding inclinations and Stanley Kubrick's extreme mood over substance approach. The calm pace, the ease of the crossfades, and the lean into atmosphere lend a lot to 'Doctor Sleep' and I appreciate a horror thriller that's more concerned with grounding the supernatural with a humanizing emotional core rather than boiling the experience down to cheap scares. Could it have been shorter? Yes, but it's all the more engaging because it gives its story the time to breathe.
-
Doctor Sleep is one of those rare sequels that work. The film is close to the books story-line but is also respectful of the Kubrick masterpiece The Shining. I honestly feel this film will grow into a cult gem like its predecessor. The book was good as it pushed past the closed doors of the original and managed to stay relevant. Most sequels would revisit The Overlook with a new family, but not Stephen King. The filmmaker stays respectful to both King and Kubrick which wouldn't have been an easy feat considering King's dislike for Kubrick's film. The version I watched was the DC 1080 cut and I will say it's an incredible film. I haven't rewarded it with the 5 star rating as The Shining wasn't an initial 5 star rating for me. I will re-watch the film in a few years and re-access my initial review. This has the tone of The Shining and the quality, but since I watched The Shining first, it's hard to say this is on the same level. It's a shame this failed at the box office, but I suspect it had to do with the negative hype surrounding IT Chapter 2. 05/08/2020
-
Pulling from elements of the books and the Kubrick adaptation, this is something of a complicated beast trying to reconcile the bunch. Having never read Doctor Sleep, I can't say how true it stays to the book, but even then there are definitely moments where I could feel it stretching to try to pull in something from Kubrick that probably wasn't book accurate. You can feel it a bit, but it still overall works. When it goes Kubrick with direct homages and callbacks, it feels right enough and they honestly are some of the most enjoyable bits. It's still full on King though overall. It's not a rehash sequel, it's an extension of ideas and themes from the original. Danny is following in his father's steps in dark ways, and the overall story of these psychic vampires seems to acknowledge a lot of King's history with psychics. So overall, it works. But sometimes the stretching to fit is felt. I was never bored, and there wasn't anything I wanted taken out of the movie, but I almost felt it would be better as a TV show or miniseries due to some rushed execution. For example the new cult member Andi is sort of thrown in as something of an audience surrogate and gets a decent amount of focus, but then mostly just falls to the wayside and it feels a little awkward. It's mostly fine, but I feel like this is a case of the book had more. I also didn't like some of the darkness in the film, and that could just be a personal preference, but it did bother me. The cult largely goes after children. I'm not opposed to kids dying in horror films if it's warranted for the story, but there is a prolonged sequence in here where a preteen is tortured to death and it's just vile to watch. You can get the point across with more subtlety, it just didn't feel like it had a purpose. Overall though I really liked the movie. I liked seeing more about the shining abilities and the whole world of psychic powers, it looks great visually, and it's got strong enough themes that carry from the original. It's got problems that might keep me from coming back again and again, but I liked it.
-
When I saw the runtime, I was very skeptical. But I'm glad I gave it a go. A Stephen King story seldom disappoints.
Verified