Alongside the fact that the book wasn’t exactly King’s most beloved or necessary work, Flannagan was also attempting to rebuild a bridge between King’s original novel version of The Shining and Stanley Kubrick’s classic film version, which King has spent decades denouncing. While he may be unable to overcome his demons in life, he can save himself from destroying his family and can take his addiction down with him, whereas in the Full Metal Jacket director's characteristically dark movie, his death is a cruel punchline.When director Mike Flannagan set out to adapt Stephen King’s novel Doctor Sleep into a movie, he took on a nearly impossible task. In contrast, the novel sees Jack free himself from the Overlook’s influence just long enough to blow up the boiler, sacrificing his life to save his family and destroy the hotel. In Kubrick’s The Shining, Jack is left to freeze to death as revealed in the blackly funny closing moments. Fortunately, Kubrick cut this dark coda, but the ending he went with for The Shining was still one which jettisoned Jack’s redemption arc, a heartbreaking detail that many (King included) thought was pivota. Originally, Kubrick diverged even further from King’s source novel with a finale that saw Dick Halloran survive the events of the movie - only for viewers to discover he too was possessed by the Overlook and thus Wendy and Danny had to battle him too. However, the biggest change Kubrick made to The Shining came at the close of his adaptation. While Flanagan’s film makes an admirable stab at following up both Kubrick’s movie and King’s novel, the biggest issues that Doctor Sleep fails to fix come from the tonal disconnect between the duo's divergent visions for The Shining. However, audiences were less uncertain, with Doctor Sleep becoming a flop and the first major financial misstep of Flanagan’s career.

This movie, from the cult horror helmer responsible for everything from Netflix hit The Haunting of Bly Manor to the earlier King adaptation Gerald’s Game, left critics divided over its attempts to follow up Kubrick’s film while also adapting King’s 2014 novel, Doctor Sleep. In 2019, Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining received a belated sequel in the form of Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep. Related: Stephen King’s IT Theory: Why The Remake's Pennywise Is A Worse Clown Kubrick’s adaptation altered King’s critically-acclaimed novel in numerous key areas, ranging from tone and pacing to the movie’s famously divisive ending. Stephen King, who authored the original novel of the same name that The Shining was based on, didn’t appreciate the fact Kubrick took huge liberties in adapting his story to the screen. However, one notable dissenter wasn’t as fond of The Shining as film critics or horror fans.

Doctor sleep shining