Look who’s all grown up and haunted by his past, psychic powers, and literal ghosts: it’s little Danny Torrance! He’s the focus of Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining that sees Danny—or, rather, Dan(Ewan McGregor)—learn that others share his power. That leads to a telepathic bond with a teenage girl, a team-up with a cat that predicts death, and a showdown against a clandestine group of who feed off some sort of magic steam those with “the shine” give off when they’re tortured to death. Worse yet, that group’s leader always looks like she just left a trendy music festival. How intolerable.
Honestly, for a follow-up to “dad goes crazy in the spooky hotel,” it seems pretty convoluted. But it is based on Stephen King’s 2013 novel of the same name, so fair enough. You get a pass on this belated, seemingly arbitrary sequel, Hollywood.
Aptly written and directed by The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan, Doctor Sleep hits theaters November 8.
