The Shining is widely considered to be one of the greatest horror movies ever made. But I don’t see nearly enough recognition or praise going to its sequel.

  Doctor Sleep is one of my all-time favorite horror movies; I have it ranked almost as high as The Shining. The acting is one of the best parts; every actor is on their A-game. Ewan McGregor is so sincere as an older Danny Torrance, Kyliegh Curran was such a talented child actress who should’ve had a much more active career, and Rebecca Ferguson is absolutely phenomenal as the main villain, Rose the Hat. She gives the performance of a lifetime and is genuinely threatening and terrifying. All the side characters are so fun, too.

  This is one of the few horror movies that I’ve seen that genuinely disturbs and freaks me out without overdoing gore. This movie has its fair share of violence, but it never feels gratuitous. The scene of one of the members of the vampire-like antagonist group, Grandpa Flick, dying (called cycling in the movie), is horrific and painful-looking without being gory. 

 The villains are another highlight. They are a group called the True Knot, and they feed off the “shine” of other people, which they call steam. The main child character in this movie, Abra, is very powerful and has a lot of shine in her that the True Knot wants. The scene that shows how serious and brutal these beings are is one where they torture and murder a young boy to get the steam from him. It is a truly shocking and disturbingly well-acted scene from everyone, especially the actor playing the boy.

  Visually stunning is another way I would describe Doctor Sleep. The cinematography is top-notch, with amazing framing, shots, lighting, and color grading. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the scene where Rose the Hat astral projects herself into the sky and into Abra’s mind in order to get information on where and how to find her. The visual effects are incredible and are way better than most post-2020 Marvel movies.

  This movie mostly stands on its own, separate from The Shining, which I appreciate. It allows for the movie to be its own thing and not rely on nostalgia or knowledge of the first movie’s events. The most nostalgia-baiting part of the movie is in the third act, where the characters go back to the Overlook Hotel from The Shining in order to use its dark energy to defeat Rose the Hat. They end up giving this movie the ending of the original end of The Shining book by Stephen King, which was changed in the movie. I won’t spoil it here, but I’d say this movie ends in a very satisfying way.

  My favorite scenes in this movie, however, are not what most people would expect. It’s not the big finale or some crazy action scene; it’s just the scenes of Dan Torrance working in the hospice, comforting dying patients in their final moments, and lulling them peacefully into death using his shine, earning him the nickname “Doctor Sleep.” These scenes are so beautiful, and I wish there were more of them. And I just love how Dan describes dying in this movie, “just like going to sleep…. finally true, restful sleep.”