Shot by Shot with the ‘Doctor Sleep’ Trailer

Mike Flanagan's long-awaited adaptation of Stephen King's sequel to 'The Shining' will send a shiver down your spine.

In 2013, Stephen King released Doctor Sleep, his long-awaited sequel novel to The Shining. The story follows a grown-up Danny Torrance as he sets out to find redemption and track down others who possess his mysterious gift of “the shining.” Since the film adaptation was announced, we’ve been interested to see how it will be imagined for the screen. Well, thanks to this trailer courtesy of Warner Bros., we now have a brief idea.

From the looks of this trailer, Mike Flanagan has done a fantastic job at bringing yet another King story to life. The director previously helmed the critically acclaimed Gerald’s Game film, and that’s based on a King story which many deemed impossible to make in the past. If anyone can do this story justice, it’s Flanagan. To steal a joke that our boss man, Neil Miller, made in our Slack: he “FlanaCan”.

Furthermore, in addition to adapting the author’s novel, Flanagan has acknowledged Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1980 adaptation of King’s first novel — which is no easy feat considering the stark differences between the book and the film. It’s a well-known fact that King is no fan of Kubrick’s movie, so it’ll be interesting to see how he reacts to a sequel that no doubt takes a few creative liberties of its own in order to complement previous literary and cinematic interpretations of this universe.

With that in mind, let’s break down this trailer and examine the spooky treats that Flanagan and company have in store for us.


A simple greeting appears on the wall of a dimly-lit room.

We’re then introduced to the middle-aged Danny (Ewan McGregor), and it’s evident that he’s still haunted by his traumatic childhood.

It would also appear that Danny is in contact with another person who shares his unique gift. Whoever — or whatever — he’s communicating with seems friendly.


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Kieran Fisher: Kieran is a Contributor to the website you're currently reading. He also loves the movie Varsity Blues.