Stephen King has long been critical of Stanley Kubrick’s film version of The Shining, despite its status as a landmark horror movie. Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep eventually gave the author a way to appreciate what Kubrick had created.
King objected to several major choices in the 1980 film. He disliked Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, having preferred a performer such as Martin Sheen, whose screen presence felt more approachable. He was also unhappy with Shelley Duvall’s version of Wendy Torrance, which he described as one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film.
Doctor Sleep connected two different visions
King’s 2013 novel Doctor Sleep continued Danny Torrance’s story and was warmly received. Publishers Weekly called it a gripping, taut conclusion to Danny’s journey.
The story follows Danny as an adult. Still affected by the violence surrounding his father and the Overlook Hotel, he works as a hospice orderly and uses his psychic gift to comfort patients nearing death. Danny later forms a mental connection with Abra, a young girl whose powerful Shine attracts the attention of the True Knot, a vampire-like group that hunts children with psychic abilities.
Flanagan faced a difficult adaptation challenge. He needed to honour King’s novel while also acknowledging the imagery established by Kubrick’s film. The director told King from the outset that Kubrick’s version would influence his approach, because the Overlook had become inseparable from the way audiences imagined the story.
That decision was not simply an exercise in franchise continuity. Flanagan believed the two versions could coexist. He also understood that references to the Overlook would inevitably bring Kubrick’s visual language to mind, even while the film remained grounded in King’s characters and themes.
“There’s no other language to tell that story in. If you say ‘Overlook Hotel,’ I see something. It lives right up in my brain because of Stanley Kubrick. You can’t pretend that isn’t the case.”
King initially remained wary. He had previously compared Kubrick’s film to a beautiful Cadillac without an engine, suggesting that its surface was impressive but its emotional and thematic machinery did not work for him.
Flanagan eventually won him over by outlining a crucial sequence involving Danny inside the Overlook. That choice differed from King’s novel, where the hotel has been destroyed, but it allowed the film to bring the literary and cinematic continuities together.
A faithful sequel with one important compromise
Doctor Sleep made changes to accommodate the mythology and visual identity of Kubrick’s adaptation, but Flanagan kept those alterations focused. The result aimed to remain faithful to King’s book while providing a continuation of the earlier film.
The 2019 movie received strong critical praise, although its performance at the box office was disappointing. Its more significant achievement was personal: King approved of the way Flanagan joined his novel to Kubrick’s film.
King said that Flanagan had taken the material, built a terrific story and seamlessly welded the Doctor Sleep novel to the film version of The Shining. After decades of disapproval, the adaptation gave him a new perspective on the movie he had once disliked most.
For readers and viewers comparing adaptations, the film is an unusual example of a sequel working across two competing interpretations of the same fictional world. Australian horror fans can browse the RETROCADE Arcade Blog for more entertainment and gaming features, or explore the Arcade Machine Buying Guide when planning a home setup.
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Doctor Sleep is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
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