Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show, I’m your host Deffinition and this is the channel where we break down all of the latest movies, game releases, tv shows and games. In this article we’re gonna be breaking down the sequel to what is in my opinion the greatest movie of all time.
Throughout this, I’ll be discussing everything that you need to know about Doctor Sleep including its plot and ending. Make sure you stick around until the end of the video where I’ll be letting you know whether the movie shines or if it’s a sequel that you should Overlook.
There will be heavy spoilers here so if you haven’t had a chance to watch the movie yet and don’t want to know what happens then I highly suggest that you turn off now.
With that out the way I just wanna give a huge thank you for clicking this video, now let’s get into our breakdown of Doctor Sleep!
The Shining Plot Recap
Ok so Doctor Sleep is both a sequel to the original Shining Novella by Stephen King as well as the film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick. Even though there are several aspects in both that differ slightly, Doctor Sleep manages to meld both into one continuity that pleases both fans. In case you haven’t seen or read The Shining, I thought I’d just give a high-level plot overview of the story just to get people up to speed.
This is a very basic outline and the film especially is worth checking out if you haven’t because it’s an absolute masterpiece.
So the Shining follows Jack Torrence, his wife Wendy and son Danny who has an imaginary friend named Tony. Jack has been tasked with being a caretaker of The Overlook Hotel in The Rocky Mountains and throughout the Winter his sanity slowly starts to slip and he turns on his family, attempting to murder them.
In the film, Danny learns from a chef at the hotel named Dick Hallorann that he has a psychic ability known as Shining that allows him to see ghosts and supernatural elements that are part of a location. Danny and Wendy manage to get away, leaving Jack to his freeze to death in the hotel’s maze at the close of the movie.
Whilst I thought that on the whole, The Shining was very ambiguous over whether the ghosts were real or not outside of one pivotal scene, Doctor Sleep confirms flat out that these things did indeed happen the way that we the viewer and Jack saw them with the evil spirits behind the hotel being a main driving force of his insanity.
Doctor Sleep Plot Recap
Doctor Sleep picks up not long after the events of The Shining with Danny still haunted by the spirits of the Overlook that are still trying to feast upon him. With the ghost of Dick Hollerann as his guide, he is able to create mental boxes that can entomb the spirits and thus he is able to trap the spirits one by one.
Though you would think that Danny would live a happy life after trapping them all, this isn’t the case and he has grown up traumatised by the events that happened at the Overlook and his abilities. The character ends up turning to alcohol in order to make his mind numb to the things around him.
This all comes to a head when we jump to 2011 and Danny is involved in the death of a one night stand who overdoses. Danny sees that she has a child and he neglects checking on whether she is breathing, thus leaving him to die as well.
It’s a turn that I really didn’t expect and throughout the film, I kept second-guessing whether it was all a trick or if Danny really had made a huge mistake. Though I initially was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of it, I was reminded throughout the film that this is a universe that doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to killing kids and even though that one did deserve to die for what he did to the Predator, it felt instantly adult and as dark of a world as the characters stated.
In order to get away from it all Danny moves to another town where he lives a life of sobriety for many years after befriending a man named Billy. There’s an awesome callback to the Overlook office in the opening when Danny is attempting to get a job as well and he ends up operating as a hospital orderly that goes by the nickname ‘Doctor Sleep.’ This is due to the fact that he eases those who are death’s door by calming them with stories about how going to the afterlife is like drifting off to sleep.
It’s clear he’s keeping his head down and just wants an easy, uneventful life but he is pulled into a world of danger once more when he encounters the character Abra, a young teen who, like him as the ability to shine.
Abra has unwittingly become a target of The True Knot, a cult of psychic vampires lead by a character named Rose The Hat that feed off of people with the ability to tap into the spiritual world. This draining of their lifeforce allows the True Knot to extend their lifespan as long as they continue to feed and feed they do.
I was pretty shocked by just how depraved the movie gets at points and quickly The True Knot becomes the kinda people that you want to get as far away from as possible. Abra is an extremely strong psychic and thus feasting upon her will grant them an even further extended lifespan that they can live off for centuries.
The True Knot inhale a Psychic’s steam during their death and the more pain and agony they cause the better.
The True Knot
Whilst the opening hour of Doctor Sleep is quite slow and most might be put off by the pacing, it’s purposely drawn out to develop these characters and give them motives for the paths that they take in the movie. Danny is a coward and thus struggles when it comes to admitting that they need to be stopped whereas the True Knot, due to the dwindling psychics that now exist in the world, have grown desperate and even more extreme, tracking down their targets with almost a Terminator-like mindset.
Abra pleads with Danny who initially advises her to hide like him but after he realizes that they will simply keep coming until the girl dies a brutal death he knows that there is no real option but to take them head-on.
With the help of Billy, they draw the True Knot out to the woods, using Abra as bait and shoot them all one by one. This is where the movie really kicks it up a notch and I absolutely loved how the plan was just standing behind some trees and sniper them like it’s nothing. BOOM HEADSHOT!
However, not everything goes Danny and Abra’s way and Billy ends up killing himself after one of the psychics that is known as a pusher, wills him into doing it. One of the True Knot’s forces known as the crow too had their own diversion and they break into Abra’s house, kill her father and kidnap her. Whilst she is able to get out of the situation due to help from Danny, they realize that there is only one way to stop Rose The Hat and that is to lure her to the Overlook in the hopes that the ghosts there will feast on her.
Returning To The Overlook Hotel
It’s an awesome premise for the finale and watching Danny take that long drive up to the isolated location was not only a trip down memory lane for the characters but also the viewers. The creative team really nailed all of the nuances of this journey and the blaring orchestral score really got me hyped as they arrived at the hotel for the final act.
Here Danny tells Abra to wait whilst he goes and powers up the hotel and reawakens what is within it. Watching him pace through the hallways and all of the iconic settings is a real blast to watch and it feels like pure fan service that delivers in all of the right ways adding authenticity to the piece. Danny turns on the boiler, visits the bathroom where the infamous ‘Here’s Johnny’ scene took place and then goes to the Gold Room Bar where he comes face to face with his father who is now in the position of Lloyd The Barman.
Jack Is Back
Now people have theorised for decades whether Jack was absorbed into the hotel or not due to the ending of The Shining and this scene indeed confirms that he has become a slave to the location similar to Delbert Grady before him and many of the other ghosts that we see throughout the movie. Jack offers Danny a drink, stating that it’s medicine that will help to cure the sickness of life but Danny turns it down, sending Jack into an angry rage that has him drinking the alcohol that he poured for the character. This scene is brilliant and it is an absolute picture-perfect recreation of the original scene from The Shining. Though the actor slightly resembles Jack Nicholson he really carries with him an undertone of the character that embodies the exact kind of person that he is which in reflection, cements exactly what kind of person Danny is.
It’s a real closing of the book on their relationship and it cements that Danny, even though he exhibited many characteristics of his father is not him and thus he leaves the bar, ready to take Rose head-on. With the help of Abra, they battle the villain, taking her mentally to the hedge maze where Danny has kept all of the spirits of the Overlook trapped in his mind.
Though she escapes and we get an awesome staircase scene that is a brilliant callback to the original, Danny ends up unleashing the spirits on Rose and they consume her. However, they turn their sights on Danny and the Overlook itself possesses him, changing him into a maniac that similar to his father, chases Abra throughout the hotel, eventually arriving at room 237 where she manages to overpower the Overlook, reminding it that when Danny arrived he turned on the boiler.
Doctor Sleep Ending Explained
For those who don’t know, in the original Shining Book, the Overlook was destroyed at the end of it due to the boiler exploding and though this wasn’t brought across to the film, this kinda brings it full circle and we watch as the hotel rushes to the basement whilst Abra is able to escape outside. Danny finally frees himself of the hotel and in the boiler room is joined by the spirit of his mother as the Overlook goes up in flames whilst Abra watches from the outside.
Back home Abra discusses with Danny how she thought that he went up in flames with the location and she worries that the world is full of people worse than Rose who may come for her. However, Danny reminds her that the world is also full of people like her and that there are ways to fight them. Abra’s mother calls for her and asks who she was talking to which is when we realize that Danny indeed died with the hotel and is now acting as a mentor to the girl similar to how Dick did with him.
Abra initially denies speaking to anyone but then admits to her mother that she was speaking to Danny and informs her that there is an afterlife and that her father, grandmother and Danny are all there, in happiness.
The Shining and Doctor Sleep both explore how violence is cyclical, for example, those who go through violence as children often end up being aggressive adults and thus Danny’s sacrifice is an attempt to break this cycle so that he does not become his father. This might not completely remove the world of all it’s evil but it may make it a place that shines slightly brighter. The world is often called a dark place throughout the movie but this place will make it have some light in it for once.
Before going downstairs Abra goes to the bathroom and we see that she is greeted by the lady in the bath who she will no doubt trap in her own mental boxes. The spirits of the Overlook are still out there and are probably coming for her but she now knows what to do and unlike Danny she will not run in fear from them but rather, embrace who she is and take them head-on, righting the wrongs of his past and making the world a safer place for psychics.
That ends the film and closes out the Shining saga with a satisfying ending.
Doctor Sleep Review
But what did I think about Doctor Sleep?
Well, going into the film I was very very anxious and worried that this was going to be a big disappointment. As I mentioned earlier the Shining is my favorite film of all time and I’ve done a couple of in-depth analysis videos of it over the years that have really gotten to the core of it. Needless to say, it’s an amazing movie in my opinion and the fact that they were not only trying to do a sequel to that but also the book had me very much in the mindset that they would fall flat on their faces.
However, I’m pleased to say that Doctor Sleep is a brilliant movie and it’s not only one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever made, it’s also the best horror movie of the year.
Mike Flannagan, the creator of The Haunting Of Hill House on Netflix, has cemented himself as one of the best horror directors out there right now and from the off, he grounds the piece in an atmosphere that really elevates the movie and sent chills down my spine.
This was an impossible task given to the creator that required a lot from him but he quite comfortably surpassed all of my expectations. This is in part due to the phenomenal cast who really nail down all of the nuances of the source material and even with some of the many recasts that I imagined to take me out of it, I’m happy to say they completely knocked it out of the park.
Least of all Rebecca Ferguson who does a terrific job as Rose The Hat. She’s creepy, charismatic and just has something going on beneath the surface that makes her unknowingly terrifying.
If I was to ding The Shining for anything it would be that the villains in it, or rather The Ghosts, didn’t feel as threatening as they could be as they didn’t possess any real physicality and thus they had to manipulate Jack into carrying out their bidding. Juxtaposing this the True Knot is very much alive and therefore a real force to be reckoned with from the off.
This all adds towards an outstanding piece that whilst, falls slightly short of the Kubrick version, still has a lot going on that makes it a real triumph. Doctor Sleep earns its status as a worthy successor to The Shining which is a big statement for me to be making.
This should have failed, it should have been a disappointment but everyone has pulled something together that is very very special. I thoroughly enjoyed Doctor Sleep and that’s why it gets an…
Now obviously I’d love to hear your thoughts on Doctor Sleep and if you agree with my thoughts on the movie or not. Comment below and let me know!