Dr Sleep

Mike Flanagan's adaptation of "Dr Sleep" the Stephen King sequel to The Shining is every bit as good as the original film and in some ways I may even prefer it. I can't comment on the theatrical cut of the movie as I have only ever watched Flanagan's completed three hour vision of the book and It is brilliant.

I think the way in which Dr Sleep improves upon The Shining is that it feels like a Stephen King story, when the original is distinctly Stanley Kubrick's vision.  I'm not knocking the original, but I understand why King didn't like it. Stephen King's stories have always been about the overcoming of personal demons (usually childhood trauma or alcoholism) through an act of heroism in the face of evil, something that is very clear in the original shining novel and an idea that is absent from Kubrick's film. As King rightfully stated in an interview the difference between Kubrick's film and his book is that in the movie the Overlook Hotel freezes but in the book it burns. The warmth of the novel's ending is absent from the movie, but not in Dr Sleep.

Mike Flanagan is quite possibly the single greatest mainstream horror director of our time. He understands horror storytelling, atmosphere and drama in a way that few directors and writers do, all of his work is phenomenal and the actors he casts are always perfect in their roles.

Rebecca Ferguson and Ewan McGregor are a huge part of why this film is as good as it is. McGregor as Danny Torrence is eerily similar to Nicholson in the original, his voice is  a near exact match and you always get the feeling that the madness of his father is ever present, waiting to be unleashed but is restrained behind Danny's better nature.
Rebecca Ferguson is bewitching as Rose The Hat. She has an air of cool and arrogance about her that would come from being immortal, her performance breathes life into the witch who is both enchanting and monstrous.

Overall I really like this movie
and I think its one of the few sequels to a legacy horror title that lives up to the original.