Most of us have seen Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and most of those people would have also read the book. It’s old news that author, Stephen King, wasn’t the biggest fan of the film, saying it lacked heart, was too cold and had a very different ending. Almost 40 years later, Doctor Sleep reached our screens after the 2013 book of the same name. King was very heavily involved in the script and has said that he sees the film as a redemption of the 1980 Kubrick film. Well! Let’s give our opinion.

 

 

The Shining book was wonderful and gave us that ending with feel. The Shining film was a masterpiece of cinema, but it was a terrible adaptation of the book. That being said, they both have their place in the world. Doctor Sleep… well, we enjoyed the film and we enjoyed the book. But the book was very different. Almost more different than the two Shinings.


*SPOILER ALERT*

 

Dan dies in the film; in the book he happily lives on. In the book the hotel was long gone, in the film it was standing as before. We find out in the book that the girl with the powerful shining’s mum is Danny’s half-sister (fathered by Jack Torrance) a HUGE reveal that was missing from the film. Really apart from the characters, they’re very different. So, for Stephen to say he didn’t like the Shining because it was too different from the book confuses us a little seeing as the book and the film for Doctor Sleep is just as different.

 

 

Our honest opinion, the film for Doctor Sleep seemed like a redemption mission for Stephen King, we have to remember that most people would have seen the films rather than the books; so, we can understand why Stephen did that, the film couldn’t show the hotel burnt down as it never did in Kubrick’s adaptation. Overall, it did seem to have ulterior motives, but both books and both films are excellent in their own way. Just think of the films as one version and the books as another and you’ll be fine and dandy!