Doctor Sleep: Refurbishing the Carpets
In Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep, the sequel (the official sequel, according to radio ads and marketing materials) to The Shining, there are a total of three shots recycled (not to be confused with recreated) from Kubrick’s 1980’s pass at the King classic.
The elevator is Flanagan’s; the maze is Flanagan’s; the MC Escher-esque geometrics along the carpet— all Flanagan’s. No, the recycled materials are not taken from the interiors of The Shining’s Overlook Hotel, but from the images forgoing Jack Torrance’s first step in the door. The latter of these shots are two of a car (Danny’s car in this new sequel, Jack’s car in the original) driving up the mountain, and the shot preceding it, an island nestled in a canyon inching closer and closer until it disappears beneath us.
It’s a clever decision to use Danny’s inevitable journey back to the Overlook as a method of recall. Eventually, when he and Abra Stone, his Furiousa (a name that I am coining to mean “actual protagonist who happens to be a female), reach the hotel, the images that we remember from the first film are all recreations— meaning the corridors, the ghouls, the hedge maze, and that bloody, bloody elevator are all reconstructions original to this sequel. If Doctor Sleep is a film about repressed memories locked away, about entering your mind, and the Overlook Hotel symbolizes the mind of Danny Torrance, it makes sense that images that bridge the world of Doctor Sleep and the world of The Shining would feel almost identical while the memories within, the images from inside the hotel, would be recreations— similar to the original film, but entirely different in nature.
Notice the “almost” in “almost identical”. These recycled images come not without caveats. For starters, this time around, there is snow falling. you can see it on the road, the hills, the island in the canyon. Flanagan had added snow and a chill to the original shot. The footage of the drive has also been stabilized, and, as previously stated, Jack’s station wagon is substituted for Danny’s. With the visual effect changes to these images, Flanagan is able to achieve two things: repurpose the shot for emotional, philosophical, and metaphorical reasons and place ownership over the original opening, akin to purchasing a Rembrandt, a Manet, or a Goya (and this actually happened to several Goyas) and drawing overtop of them. Some may find it sacrilege, but one cannot discount the intended purpose behind a repurposing. For if this is an “official” sequel, why can’t we tweak original footage? It’s already canon.
I know this isn’t a review per se of the film, but it was something that really struck a chord with my viewing experience— trying to parse between what was The Shining, and what wasn’t. When I had learned which shots they were, it was a pleasant surprise. I mean this as in (and this may be getting that reviewy territory) I rally thought that the film would lean into its predecessor a little heavier as a crutch. But, now that it’s all said and done, the sequel felt refreshingly respectful and strategically conscious of its source material. New characters like Abra and Rose the Hat (who is absolutely phenomenal) allowed a deeper understanding of both the shining and The Shining, and I can appreciate the feeling of deliberateness that Flanagan’s efforts have always had, Doctor Sleep included.
In terms of the plot and genre mechanics of the film, I heard it described as “like Twilight” by a person I had seen it with. I’m not sure I agree with that assertion. For to look past the strides that the film takes in the “sequel game” in terms of deepening the lore, presenting something new, and resining faithful is missed experience.