Even Stephen King Appreciates New 'The Shining' Sequel, 'Doctor Sleep'

Surpassing Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1980s horror film, based upon Stephen King’s novel of the same name, is no easy feat. Yet with Ewan McGregor as the titular (now far older) Dan Torrance, “Doctor Sleep” intends on stealing this year’s Halloween season by weaving the old in with the new. And audiences worldwide are eating it up; even King isn’t complaining, despite a rather lackluster sequel to “IT” still weighing on the author’s mind.

“Doctor Sleep” adopts the same premise as King’s 2013 novel of the same name and sequel to his 1977 book “The Shining.” Following McGregor's Danny as he struggles adapting to adult life, the movie focuses on the trauma still gnawing away at his past, in addition to the arrival of other similarly extrasensory individuals. Danny must now confront the demons he has long tried to forget, while protecting a young child from the immortalized-life-seeking The True Knot, a malicious group talented with “the shine” and headed by actress Rebecca Ferguson’s Rose the Hat.

With the director chair occupied by Mike Flanagan, a wizard of horror who has worked on such titles as “Gerald’s Game,” “The Haunting of Hill House,” and “Oculus,” it’s clear that both Kubrick and King’s classic remains in good hands. Flanagan focused on reconciling key differences between the novel and film version of “The Shining,” tying the whole universe tight together for one shining yet terrifying movie-going experience. He said in an interview with SlashFilm:

“I read the book in high school as I was starting to kind of burn my way through the King library. And what stunned me about the book was that everything I thought I believed about Jack Torrance, in particular from the film, was wrong. You know, the book has this humanism to it and redemption and sacrifice on his part that the movie jettisons completely. And they both work for what they’re doing.”

As reported by MovieWeb, King is apparently pleased with the direction Flanagan took the film. "Mike Flanagan is a talented director, but he's also an excellent storyteller," the writer shared. "The movie is a good thing. You'll like this if you liked 'The Shining,' but you'll also like it if you liked 'Shawshank.' It's immersive."

While the novel version [Spoiler Alert!] ends with the hotel going up in flames after the boiler gives out, the movie offers a rather haunting conclusion by leaving the hotel intact for future disturbances. One fan on Twitter has even regarded “Doctor Sleep” as on par with “Shawshank Redemption.”

With the possibility of an “IT Chapter 3” on the horizon, in addition to Netflix picking up his “Under the Dome,” it’s now prime time for King and his gargantuan library of horror.

“Doctor Sleep” officially opens in cinemas on Nov. 8.