Doctor Sleep review, Culture Whisper
Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining, like its haunted hotel setting, has seemingly infinite rooms. The fear of The Overlook hotel, originally built by Stephen King, rages in the baffling terrors that could be lurking behind every door (especially the infamous Room 237). Add to that the film's various meanings and interpretations, which have been pondered for decades; even after watching The Shining so many times, it exists in a constantly frightening, constantly fluctuating state.
With Doctor Sleep, based on King’s 2013 sequel to his 1977 original novel, writer/director/editor Mike Flanagan explores one interpretation – his own – and thus reduces the world of the Overlook to only one room. Thankfully, this room has the fascination, the curiosity and the approaching dread of Room 237.
