Starring: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis

Director: Mike Flanagan.

Running Time: 152 minutes

Director's Cut Running Time: 180 minutes

Rating: Rated R for disturbing and violent content, some bloody images, language, nudity and drug use.

40 years after his traumatic stay at the Overlook Hotel Dr Sleep picks up the story of Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) a man fighting with addiction and anyone who argues with him. He's a mess and he's struggling to hold it all together until he embarks on a new life in backwater town and meets Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis) who becomes his AA sponsor and finds him a place to stay and a job.

Danny cleans up pretty quickly and begins to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters 13 year old Abra (Kyliegh Curran) who also has 'the shine'.

Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) and her followers, The True Knot (supernatural 'vampires') who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality.

'Uncle' Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before - at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.

Dr Sleep is an impressive supernatural thriller from the mind of the undisputed master of horror - Stephen King. But it's taken a masterful horror director to bring it to life.

Never completely happy with Stanley Kubrick's take on The Shining King can now be happy that his stories have been told in a way that he is content with.

Mike Flanagan has done an exceptional job here and it's clear from the special features that Stephen King is delighted with the result.

Dr Sleep picks up plot strands from Kubrick's The Shining and weaves them effortlessly into the storyline of Dr Sleep to give us a satisfying conclusion to both stories that perhaps Kubrick's movie version never could.

McGregor is great as Danny Torrance playing drugged up and aggressive at the beginning then working through emotions and his character to end up as supportive of Abra and the hero of the story.

Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat is excellent too. Otherworldly, she's a woman that's lived many lifetimes and she truly evil and horribly sadistic but Ferguson still manages to somehow make her sexy, charming, and dare I say relatable? Given Rose's horrific actions and her lifestyle choices this is a very difficult performance to get right. Ferguson nails it and I look forward to seeing her in future roles.

Kyliegh Curran, cast from over one thousand child actors to audition, as Abra is fantastic. She's totally believable and she has some harrowing scenes. She's certainly one to watch for in the future. She has a bright career ahead of her. And speaking of young talent there is also a scene (a very brief appearance, but so powerful) in which Jacob Tremblay plays a young boy who is gruesomely murdered by the collective members of The True Knot.

Doctor Sleep is an accurate and complete movie version of Stephen King's novels The Shining and Doctor Sleep which not only furthers the story but also takes us back to the Overlook Hotel to finally right some of the wrongs of Kubrick's version.

Full of powerful performances, it's directed by a Stephen King fanatic who also happens to be a director skilled in horror which results in an excellent film.

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc of “Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep” will feature Dolby VisionTM HDR, which dramatically expands the colour palette and contrast range, and uses dynamic metadata to automatically optimize the picture for every screen, frame by frame. It will also feature HDR10+TM, a new HDR technology that optimizes brightness levels and contrast for each scene, making bright areas brighter and dark areas darker to deliver a lifelike viewing experience.

4K AND BLU-RAY™ ELEMENTS

"Stephen King's Doctor Sleep" 4K UHD and Blu-ray contain the following special features:

• Return to the Overlook


• The Making of Doctor Sleep: A New Vision


• From Shining to Sleep

Author : Kevin Stanley