Click here to copy URL

Doctor Sleep

2019

Mike Flanagan

Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Zahn McClarnon ...

6.3

17,454

Horror. Thriller This sequel to "The Shining" begins as Danny Torrance (McGregor) carries the trauma of the Overlook Hotel into adulthood. He’s become a reflection of his murderous father, with lingering rage and a drinking problem that dulls his pain as well as his “shining” powers. Those powers return when he embraces sobriety and uses his gift to help the dying at a hospice. He establishes a psychic connection with a young girl who shares his extreme ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Owen Gleiberman Variety	"Long and prosaic but also creepy and scary (...) This sequel to 'The Shining' may register, in the end, as a long footnote, but it makes you glad that you got to play in that sinister funhouse again."	POS
United States	Brian Truitt USA Today	"But Flanagan's 'Doctor Sleep' respects both King's and Kubrick's visions while letting a rising horror master go his own way, too (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Justin Chang Los Angeles Times	"Beneath the movie’s slick surfaces there is also an insistent, pulsing humanity, an understanding of the deep emotional underpinnings of King’s fiction."	POS
United States	Chris Evangelista SlashFilm	"For most of its runtime, 'Doctor Sleep' succeeds by building its own identity and staying far away from Kubrick’s film."	POS
United States	Robert Abele The Wrap	"Well-intentioned but unsatisfactory (...) [It tries] to live its own life before succumbing to the tempting pull of recognizable terrors."	NEG
United States	William Bibbiani Bloody Disgusting	"A worthy successor to 'The Shining', and as if that weren’t enough, it’s also a complex work of thoughtful film criticism (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Eric Kohn IndieWire	"Flanagan’s considerable talents work best on their own terms, but aside from a handful of stunning visual tangents, “Doctor Sleep” never escapes the labyrinthine shadows of its predecessors."	NEU
United States	Todd McCarthy The Hollywood Reporter	"Ferguson and other good actors provide some shine of their own in 'Doctor Sleep'."	POS
United States	Darren Franich Entertainment Weekly	"[It] aims for redemption (...) but the scary hotel is just a scary hotel now. And not even so scary, when you’ve seen it all before.	NEG
United States	Tom Jorgensen IGN	"No matter which version of 'The Shining' you prefer, fans of both will be finding things to enjoy about 'Doctor Sleep' forever."	POS
Canada	Norman Wilner Now Toronto	"Mike Flanagan gets the look of his film right, but faithfully following Stephen King's disjointed plot drains the movie of its power"	NEU
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Despite some big moments, this seems cumbersome and unnecessary: a dimming of the original (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United Kingdom	Chris Hewitt Empire	"Anyone expecting a straightforward 'Shining' sequel will be disappointed. This isn’t a gruelling exercise in pure horror. It’s odder and more contemplative, but worth checking in (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"A conventional action-thriller narrative undercuts what can be quite moving about this thought-provoking film — it’s a just-good-enough sequel that doesn’t entirely live up to its potential."	NEU
United Kingdom	Ian Sandwell Digital Spy	"[It] works as both a sequel to the book and the movie of The Shining, bringing together the two universes seamlessly. It has its issues, but there's plenty for Shining fans to savour. (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Chris Hunneysett Mirror	"[It] slashes its hypnotic creepiness with crowd-pleasing gore and violence (...) 'Doctor Sleep' is not a masterpiece, but it is thrilling and accomplished (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Deirdre Molumby entertainment.ie	"A thrilling, riveting watch and an accomplishment given the task that was in it (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Donald Clarke Irish Times	"[It is] different in tone to 'The Shining': less intense, looser in its shape, more generous to its characters (...) An odd, odd project, but not unenjoyable (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
Ireland	Paul Whitington Irish Independent	"For at least its first hour, 'Doctor Sleep' is a nicely made, atmospheric and eerie psychological horror (...) It could have been a lot better; it should have been an hour shorter (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
Ireland	Deirdre Molumby entertainment.ie	"For the majority, it’s a thrilling, riveting watch and an accomplishment given the task that was in it (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Sinead Brennan RTÉ	"There are some good moments of suspense, and a scene with Jacob Tremblay is particularly gruesome, but overall it isn't particularly scary (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)"	NEU
Ireland	Tiernan Allen Film Ireland	"Overall, 'Doctor Sleep' is not only a respectable sequel to a classic but is a great movie in its own right."	POS
Australia	Anthony O'Connor FilmInk	"A strange and wonderful beast (...) It somehow manages to be better than its literary source material"	POS
Australia	Jake Wilson Sydney Morning Herald	"A dull sequel (...) Superficial homages aside, few echoes of Kubrick’s peculiar genius can be found anywhere in 'Doctor Sleep' (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)"	NEG
Australia	DM Bradley The Adelaide Review	"McGregor and Curran are good and make you care for Dan and Abra, but there are things here that seem strangely unimpressive, and the baddies (...) are a malicious lot but don’t quite work"	NEU

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.