Well hell, you would hope Stephen King would be a fan of the movie that he wrote the book for, but it’s understandable to be excited since as Christopher Fiduccia of ScreenRant reminds us King wasn’t too fond of Stanley Kubrick’s interpretation of The Shining, which was the book that made this movie possible. Despite that, The Shining has been lauded as one of the greatest horror movies of all time despite the fact that it wasn’t entirely true to the book and deviated in ways that people who read the story noticed right away. This is a constant thorn in the side of any director it would seem since those that read and have seen a different representation of their favorite stories and characters are bound to notice if something is a little off or is missing or has been changed entirely. It’s even more likely that those who are sticklers for detail will say something about it, usually something less than positive since they wanted to see the movie show what was going on as it was displayed in their head. The problem with this however is perception, as even by following the book some things are going to be different without a doubt. But so far it would seem that the reviews that Doctor Sleep has received have been mostly positive.
People have continually asked if this story is a sequel to The Shining (to which Jacob Hall of SlashFilm has his own answer) which should be kind of obvious given the fact that Dan Torrance is the main character. But if you want the honest explanation it’s more of a long-overdue continuance that has been a long time in coming. Upon first seeing this book on the shelves I couldn’t help but be enticed much as I am with a lot of King’s stories, but after reading the synopsis I was hooked since like so many other people, The Shining was one of the most spine-chilling stories that King has ever written and, believe it or not, it’s one of the few that had a decent ending that didn’t feel as though it was slapped in place with Elmer’s glue in much the same way that a child will craft a piece of artwork. In other words the ending didn’t feel rushed, thrown haphazardly together, or even too wordy to deal with. That’s just a part of what made The Shining so great, but the rest of it had to do with the madness that Jack Torrance experienced, and the fact that he was a writer as well. There is something to be said for the madness of writers, especially if they don’t fight the grip of it when such a thing strikes them. There was a great deal going on in The Shining, but it was just a prelude to Doctor Sleep in a way since the villains that have been introduced in the book and in the trailers are much, much worse than anything the Overlook could provide, largely because they’re still alive, they’re mobile, and they’re insanely dangerous.
The True Knot are a nomadic group that could be classified as energy vampires or something similar that feed off of the essence of those that have the same abilities as Danny, as they feed in order to keep themselves alive. They are capable of being killed, but the power they hold is such that doing so isn’t easy, nor is it bound to something that Danny can do on his own. One might think that having a young girl as his ally wouldn’t be much of a boon, but if you’ve read the book then you know very well that she’s a lot more powerful than anyone initially thinks. Rose the Hat, the main antagonist and leader of the True Knot, has a serious desire to acquire the girl, and even has her sights on Danny, but thankfully the two of them are a little harder to take down than those that Rose and her brood have taken in the past. Eventually the fight leads to, you guessed it, the Overlook, where Danny has to finally revisit the demons of his past if he’s to have any type of future moving forward. The showdown in the book was very interesting, especially when a certain someone managed to show up and make amends in a way. I won’t give out too much for people that haven’t read the book and are excited for the movie, but so far it would seem as though King’s approval of the movie is getting a lot of hopes up and if that’s the case then it might be okay to finally be confident that the ending will be something that will completely satisfy the audience. After all, the True Knot aren’t the type to retreat after being insulted or having their egos challenged.
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