• Most new users don't bother reading our rules. Here's the one that is ignored almost immediately upon signup: DO NOT ASK FOR FANEDIT LINKS PUBLICLY. First, read the FAQ. Seriously. What you want is there. You can also send a message to the editor. If that doesn't work THEN post in the Trade & Request forum. Anywhere else and it will be deleted and an infraction will be issued.
  • If this is your first time here please read our FAQ and Rules pages. They have some useful information that will get us all off on the right foot, especially our Own the Source rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to one of our staff for further details.
  • Please read our Rules & Guidelines

Doctor Sleep

macmilln

Well-known member
Messages
576
Reaction score
60
Trophy Points
53
Discussion thread for Doctor Sleep (2019), the sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980).

Synopsis: 
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.
 

macmilln

Well-known member
Messages
576
Reaction score
60
Trophy Points
53
Personally it gets a 7.5/10 for me. The Shining is an 8.5/10 for reference.

That 7.5 is largely carried by the second half of the film, as the first half (maybe only first third, actually) is a mess. It cuts between random violet girl in 1980, to Danny in 1980, to Danny in 2011, to little girl in 2011, back to Danny for a bit, back to little girl for a bit, Danny in 2019, cult in 2019 and girl in 2019.

I love every scene with Ewan, and most of Rebecca Ferguson. And I agree that the replacements are unfortunate. I thought Wendy was really well done, she sounded just like Shelley Duvall. Danny was ok, but definitely off. Hallorann could never be played by anyone but Scatman. And Jack Torrance looked more like Jack Black than Jack Nicholson.

I enjoyed the movie for what it was. Obviously it doesn’t objectively compare to Kubrick’s The Shining, but I think it’s a fair sequel. It keeps the mystery/ambiance of the first film intact while still building on Danny’s story, which I thought was decent. Also, it has redeemed Kubrick’s film in the eyes of Stephen King, so you have to give it credit there.

As far as horror/thriller films go, it was one of the best I’ve seen (most are pretty bad to me - I still enjoy them but they’re not very good in my eyes)

My ranking is:

1. ⁠The Shining (8.5/10)
2. ⁠Get Out (8/10)
3. ⁠Doctor Sleep (7.5/10)
4. ⁠Us (7.5/10 but slightly lower)
5. ⁠It and It: Chapter Two (7/10)

Objectively, based on filmmaking critiques and techniques, Doctor Sleep is nothing special (and The Shining is damn near perfect), but I enjoyed the nostalgia trip and I think it wasn’t a pointless endeavour.

Will it hold up in 40 years as The Shining has? Of course not, you can’t make a movie the way The Shining was made now. Kubrick had a remarkable vision that he executed brilliantly, but I don’t feel this film destroys the legacy of the original or damages it in any way, and I still had fun watching it.
 

Canon Editor

Well-known member
Messages
1,730
Reaction score
80
Trophy Points
53
That’s all good and I’m looking forward to it, but…

macmilln said:
My ranking is:

1. ⁠The Shining (8.5/10)
2. ⁠Get Out (8/10)
3. ⁠Doctor Sleep (7.5/10)
4. ⁠Us (7.5/10 but slightly lower)
5. ⁠It and It: Chapter Two (7/10)

…what about Suspiria?
 

Canon Editor

Well-known member
Messages
1,730
Reaction score
80
Trophy Points
53
That’s all good and I’m looking forward to it, but…

macmilln said:
My ranking is:

1. ⁠The Shining (8.5/10)
2. ⁠Get Out (8/10)
3. ⁠Doctor Sleep (7.5/10)
4. ⁠Us (7.5/10 but slightly lower)
5. ⁠It and It: Chapter Two (7/10)

What about Suspiria?
 

macmilln

Well-known member
Messages
576
Reaction score
60
Trophy Points
53
Canon Editor said:
That’s all good and I’m looking forward to it, but…
macmilln said:
My ranking is:

1. ⁠The Shining (8.5/10)
2. ⁠Get Out (8/10)
3. ⁠Doctor Sleep (7.5/10)
4. ⁠Us (7.5/10 but slightly lower)
5. ⁠It and It: Chapter Two (7/10)

…what about Suspiria?

Haven't seen it. Again, I'm not super into 'horror'. This is the only one I've ever seen in theaters, and besides that I pretty much only watch them in the summertime with my cousins. Moreso horrors like The Conjuring universe, Sinister, Insidious and others like them. I may check out Suspiria, but it's unlikely.

And, to clarify, that is my ranking of 'horror', not all-time. But the scores are ranked as movies, not just as horror movies. The Shining and Get Out would both be 10/10 if I was do a score based purely on 'horror'.

(I'm writing 'horror' because I'm not sure that's the right word to describe these kinds of movies. If you'd consider Shaun of the Dead or even Hot Fuzz horror than those would go above all of these.)
 

Moe_Syzlak

Well-known member
Messages
3,450
Reaction score
1,161
Trophy Points
118
Canon Editor said:
That’s all good and I’m looking forward to it, but…

macmilln said:
My ranking is:

1. ⁠The Shining (8.5/10)
2. ⁠Get Out (8/10)
3. ⁠Doctor Sleep (7.5/10)
4. ⁠Us (7.5/10 but slightly lower)
5. ⁠It and It: Chapter Two (7/10)

…what about Suspiria?

Wait are those your all time rankings for horror movies? I’m not a big horror guy but two Jordan Peele movies and two two Stephen King franchises? Seems limited. What about:

Exorcist
Psycho
Jaws
The Thing
Alien
Silence of the Lambs
 

macmilln

Well-known member
Messages
576
Reaction score
60
Trophy Points
53
Moe_Syzlak said:
Canon Editor said:
That’s all good and I’m looking forward to it, but…

macmilln said:
My ranking is:

1. ⁠The Shining (8.5/10)
2. ⁠Get Out (8/10)
3. ⁠Doctor Sleep (7.5/10)
4. ⁠Us (7.5/10 but slightly lower)
5. ⁠It and It: Chapter Two (7/10)

…what about Suspiria?

Wait are those your all time rankings for horror movies? I’m not a big horror guy but two Jordan Peele movies and two two Stephen King franchises? Seems limited. What about:

Exorcist
Psycho
Jaws
The Thing
Alien
Silence of the Lambs

So I guess you skipped the part when I mentioned I’m not that into horror...

Also I’ve actually seen all of those and like the ones I listed better.

Jaws is barely horror but it’s too goofy for me to like anyways.
Exorcist is also pretty goofy. Psycho is just old and not that special to me.
The Thing was awful (and also pretty goofy) in my opinion.
I’m not a fan of the Alien films.
And Silence of the Lambs is pretty good, I wouldn’t call it horror, it’s more of a thriller/drama/mystery to me, but I still like all these other ones better.

Again, if we were to broaden the scope of horror into any film that has elements of horror and even thrillers, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead would be at the top of my list, along with American Psycho, Se7en, Zodiac, Sixth Sense and some others.

Actually, A Quiet Place might replace It and It: Chapter Two on that list, but I’m not entirely sure.
 

Canon Editor

Well-known member
Messages
1,730
Reaction score
80
Trophy Points
53
Alright. I didn’t want to lead the thread off topic, I apologise.

Back on topic guys. The conversation is getting… goofy.
 

Moe_Syzlak

Well-known member
Messages
3,450
Reaction score
1,161
Trophy Points
118
macmilln said:
Moe_Syzlak said:
Canon Editor said:
That’s all good and I’m looking forward to it, but…

macmilln said:
My ranking is:

1. ⁠The Shining (8.5/10)
2. ⁠Get Out (8/10)
3. ⁠Doctor Sleep (7.5/10)
4. ⁠Us (7.5/10 but slightly lower)
5. ⁠It and It: Chapter Two (7/10)

…what about Suspiria?

Wait are those your all time rankings for horror movies? I’m not a big horror guy but two Jordan Peele movies and two two Stephen King franchises? Seems limited. What about:

Exorcist
Psycho
Jaws
The Thing
Alien
Silence of the Lambs

So I guess you skipped the part when I mentioned I’m not that into horror...

Also I’ve actually seen all of those and like the ones I listed better.

Jaws is barely horror but it’s too goofy for me to like anyways.
Exorcist is also pretty goofy. Psycho is just old and not that special to me.
The Thing was awful (and also pretty goofy) in my opinion.
I’m not a fan of the Alien films.
And Silence of the Lambs is pretty good, I wouldn’t call it horror, it’s more of a thriller/drama/mystery to me, but I still like all these other ones better.

Again, if we were to broaden the scope of horror into any film that has elements of horror and even thrillers, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead would be at the top of my list, along with American Psycho, Se7en, Zodiac, Sixth Sense and some others.

Actually, A Quiet Place might replace It and It: Chapter Two on that list, but I’m not entirely sure.

I guess you skipped the part of my post where I said I’m that a big horror guys either. But if you’re calling Get Out and The Shining horror, the ones I listed certainly qualify IMO. But I concur I’d also include Se7en as a horror film in that company. I can’t comprehend calling Jaws goofy and listing the It movies and Us among your top five. But that’s what makes movies great; they mean different things to different people.
 

macmilln

Well-known member
Messages
576
Reaction score
60
Trophy Points
53
Moe_Syzlak said:
macmilln said:
Moe_Syzlak said:
Canon Editor said:
That’s all good and I’m looking forward to it, but…

macmilln said:
My ranking is:

1. ⁠The Shining (8.5/10)
2. ⁠Get Out (8/10)
3. ⁠Doctor Sleep (7.5/10)
4. ⁠Us (7.5/10 but slightly lower)
5. ⁠It and It: Chapter Two (7/10)

…what about Suspiria?

Wait are those your all time rankings for horror movies? I’m not a big horror guy but two Jordan Peele movies and two two Stephen King franchises? Seems limited. What about:

Exorcist
Psycho
Jaws
The Thing
Alien
Silence of the Lambs

So I guess you skipped the part when I mentioned I’m not that into horror...

Also I’ve actually seen all of those and like the ones I listed better.

Jaws is barely horror but it’s too goofy for me to like anyways.
Exorcist is also pretty goofy. Psycho is just old and not that special to me.
The Thing was awful (and also pretty goofy) in my opinion.
I’m not a fan of the Alien films.
And Silence of the Lambs is pretty good, I wouldn’t call it horror, it’s more of a thriller/drama/mystery to me, but I still like all these other ones better.

Again, if we were to broaden the scope of horror into any film that has elements of horror and even thrillers, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead would be at the top of my list, along with American Psycho, Se7en, Zodiac, Sixth Sense and some others.

Actually, A Quiet Place might replace It and It: Chapter Two on that list, but I’m not entirely sure.

I guess you skipped the part of my post where I said I’m that a big horror guys either. But if you’re calling Get Out and The Shining horror, the ones I listed certainly qualify IMO. But I concur I’d also include Se7en as a horror film in that company. I can’t comprehend calling Jaws goofy and listing the It movies and Us among your top five. But that’s what makes movies great; they mean different things to different people.

I agree with @"Canon Editor".
Canon Editor said:
Alright. I didn’t want to lead the thread off topic, I apologise.

Back on topic guys. The conversation is getting… goofy.
 
Top Bottom