Doctor SleepI watched this movie last night. People told me that another watch of this movie at home would help me relax. It did help, in its ominous kind of way. Watching people have exceedingly difficult tasks to overcome gives a catharsis, even if you feel sorry for one character or another.
Doctor Sleep is the sequel (39 years in the making) to the psychological horror movie "The Shining". Danny Torrance and his mother have escaped their psychotic father at the Overlook Hotel. The two have made their way to Florida to recover and regain their lives. In the meantime, a camping girl has fallen prey to some kind soul feeding cult. The little girl, Violet, has some kind of psychic powers that the cult wants to feed from her soul. Violet's soul can only be consumed if she is tortured and in pain and fear. The cult, True Knot, is lead by Rose the Hat.
Meanwhile, Danny and his mother are living their lives in Florida. Danny is still haunted by the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel. In particular, the woman from room 237. Dick Hollarann (the head chef from the Overlook Hotel) gives Danny some advice on how to take care of the ghosts, by suggesting Danny create some kind of imaginary boxes that entrap the ghosts. It is suggested that Dick is a ghost himself -- being that he was killed by Danny's father months earlier at the Overlook Hotel. And that when Danny turns to hear the fearful calling of her mother, Dick has vanished. Dick's advice leads Danny to fight back against the ghosts. The year of those events is 1980.
31 years later, Danny is living a rough life of alcoholism. Having recovered from a night of drunkenness and violence against another bar patron, Danny finds that he is in the room of a woman he met at the bar. She is laying next to him passed out. It is surmised that the woman is still conscious, but has thrown up. Danny goes to throw up from his hangover and the sight of what he saw. He is alerted to a child, assumed to be the son of the woman from the bar. After nearly robbing the woman of her money (assuming that she stole Danny's money to buy drugs), Danny has a change of heart -- encouraged by visions of Dick telling him to be merciful -- and Danny leaves the woman and child in peace. Later, Danny leaves for New Hampshire and tries to begin a new life.
In New Hampshire, Danny gets clean with the help of Billy Freeman. He is set up with Alcoholics Anonymous; gets a room through Billy's landlady; and gets a job as an orderly at the hospital. In the meantime, a girl by the name of Abra is introduced to the storyline. Abra is a girl with the psychic abilities that seem to 'outshine' all the other psychics of the movie. When Abra shows off her psychic abilities to her parents, it sets off an alert to both the True Knot cult as well as Danny. Rose begins her plans to seek out this girl.
In 2019, True Knot seeks out a boy, who has psychic ability, playing a game of baseball. The cult capture the boy and take him to a secluded place where they torture him to death to consume his psychic spirit. [Admittedly, the "baseball boy" Bradley Trevor (played by Jacob Tremblay) is acted out with near perfection. You could probably call this part the method acting piece of the film.] Abra has visions of this murder taking place. Danny, who has made a connection with Abra in previous years, gets informed about the murder. It takes the information of Abra and the compliance of Billy to help Danny go investigate the location of the burial site.
Danny seeks out Abra to warn her father about the plot to abduct Abra. Abra's father, Dave, is reluctant to believe Danny until Abra psychically tells her father what the problem is. This allows Danny and Billy to go about finding the True Knot cult to eliminate them. With the help of Abra creating deception illusions, Billy and Danny shoot up much of the cult. However, Snakebite Andi manages to mind control both Danny and Billy at different times. Despite Billy mortally wounding Andi, Andi manages to have Billy killed before she dies herself.
Meanwhile, Crow Daddy has gone to kidnap Abra. But, how Abra with the help of Danny manages to escape her kidnapping from Crow, I will let you find out yourself. Reunited, there is only Rose to contend a final battle. Danny and Abra drive to the now derelict "Overlook Hotel", hoping to use the hauntedness of the building to their advantage.
For the next 15 minutes, the fan service gets pandered to when Danny walks around the rooms of the hotel and the lights start lighting up. He gets to the boiler room to (somehow) restart the electricity of a building not used in over 30 years. Then he makes his way to the bar where "Lloyd" the bartender's appearance is made known to Danny. But, it is not the original Lloyd that appears. Much more like the appearance of Danny's father "Jack". Jack character is played by Henry Thomas. Exposition about Danny's childhood is revealed. Lloyd is continually denying his relationship to Danny. And Danny is denying Lloyd's insistence on drinking a glass of Jack Daniels "to take his medicine". I forget how the scene ended as I kept falling in and out of sleep.
Upon my awakening to the film, Abra tells Danny that Rose has arrived. Rose has arrived to find out who Danny really is. And then it is a back and forth battle of psychic powers until Rose gains control and overpowers Danny. It takes Danny to opening the boxes.... [cont.]
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