'Doctor Sleep' is a decent homage to Kubrick's 'Shining'

As an obsessed fan of Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining I was both predisposed to want to see its nominal sequel -- Doctor Sleep -- and be underwhelmed by it. The new film is an admirable effort, while no classic, and it does an solid job of replicating the insidious scares of the 1980 landmark.

It probably deserves to be a bigger hit, but may be too old fashioned a story for today's horror audiences. It's certainly overlong and drags a bit in the middle -- but if you are a fan of this material and the universe it create, as I am -- it's still pretty hard to resist.

And it's got a lot going for it -- nearly note perfect replications of The Shining's score and set (although the SPOILER ALERT new actors essentially impersonating Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall are distracting), some very strong production design and effects, as well as a slinky, scene-stealing turn from Rebecca Ferguson as the chief villain.

After making a splash in the last couple Mission:Impossible movies, as the first female character to hold their own with Tom Cruise, Ferguson should be a major star after this -- but its tepid performance at the box office may postpone her big moment for a while.

Ewan McGregor is just fine in a bit of a thankless role -- since his Dan Torrance is supposed to be the haunted opposite of his malevolent father. He's least convincing when he has to show signs of darkness himself, but for the most part he's a sympathetic hero.

There is an undeniable tension throughout the movie between the supernatural driven Stephen King narrative and the more psychological aspects of this story that Kubrick was clearly intrigued by.

At times, both aspects of the film work well. There is something deep this movie is trying to say about the inability to ever fully suppress our past and stop being followed by our demons. You can lock them away but eventually you are forced to reckon with them. But that more character driven plot is frequently interrupted by the admittedly creepy-cool bad guys, a cadre of powerful mystics who get their strength from feeding off the essence of their kills. Ultimately the movie is a bit overstuffed and may benefit more from repeat viewings (not unlike Kubrick's film).

But nothing in the movie feels as essential and indelible as Kubrick's and while the movie's approximation of the earlier film's shots and location is fantastic it only serves to remind audiences of how wonderful the world Kubrick created is and was.

And yet, I loved revisiting the world and seeing it come alive again on-screen. Even if Doctor Sleep's legacy is that its a big budget footnote to the 1980 original, it still feels like a worthy one, better than it could have been under the circumstances.

It's very light on gore, largely devoid of cheap jump scares and with some real character development. I wouldn't quite call it 'elevated horror' -- it's certainly not as innovative or unnerving as say Hereditary, Midsommar or Us -- but it has an earnestness about it that is refreshing. And it feels like enough a departure from its source material that it doesn't feel labored, like the It movies (especially the second one) can be.

I haven't read the book (or much Stephen King material at all) so I can't speak to how well this movie evokes it -- but I had a fun enough time with it, and if you're a spooky movie fan, you should too.