By Creative Media Times
On the same week that Warner Bros. Pictures’ “IT: Chapter 2” is dominating the boxoffice comes the release of the final trailer to the studio’s upcoming horror film “Doctor Sleep”.
“Doctor Sleep” is an adaptation of Stephen King’s 2013 novel of the same name, a sequel to King’s 1977 novel The Shining.
The film follows Danny (played by Ewan McGregor) now an adult and an alcoholic, battling the childhood trauma that he experienced with his family in the Overlook Hotel, the main setting of The Shining’s film adaptation from Stanley Kubrick.
The trailer is heavy on nostalgia and references, featuring some iconic characters and images from the original Kubrick film, such as the Overlook Hotel, the Grady twins, young Danny riding his bike through the haunted hallways of the hotel, the elevator gushing blood, and room 237 giving viewers a peek of what may be inside.
We also see a new character named Abra, a teenage girl who has her own powerful extrasensory gift. “I don’t know about magic. I’ve always called it the shining,” McGregor’s Danny tells Abra when the two meet in person for the first time.
There’s a couple of characters from 1980 original that are returning in the sequel: Dick Hallorann, the former cook from the Overlook Hotel and Danny’s mother Wendy, this time played by Carl Lumbly and Alex Essoe respectively.
The film is written and directed by Mike Flanagan, who directed the highly underrated Oculus from 2013, the hit Netflix series “The Haunting of the Hill House” as well as King’s “Gerald’s Game” for Netflix.
The film co-stars Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Fallout), Bruce Greenwood (Gerald’s Game), and child actress Kyliegh Curran. “Doctor Sleep” is set to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 8, 2019.
