THE SHINING Sequel DOCTOR SLEEP Gets Its First Teaser And Poster!

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We all have our personal all-time favorite films. One of mine is Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror epic The Shining, an adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel of the same name. Chances are high that anyone who is familiar with both iterations of the story knows about how Kubrick opted to veer away from King’s book in key thematic ideas and story beats, resulting in the two takes on the tale having their own unique experiences. So when the inevitable film adaptation of King’s follow-up book Doctor Sleep was announced, I started to wonder how exactly director Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Gerald’s Game) would decide to approach adapting Doctor Sleep and whether or not he would choose to treat his film as a sequel of sorts to Kubrick’s original.

Now Warner Bros has released the first trailer for the film and fans can see for themselves that Flanagan has opted to pay quite a lot of respect to Kubrick’s film. Watch the trailer below!

The trailer wastes no time introducing fans to the grown up Danny Torrance, now played by Ewan McGregor, who still has visions and communications with the supernatural via his Shining. Danny sees a series of innocuous words etched onto his wall, before his night is interrupted when the wall cracks alive with the all too familiar word “REDRUM” that he previously etched onto a bathroom door as a child.

Speaking of children, we learn that Danny has befriended a teenage girl named Abra (played by Kyleigh Curran) who also has the Shining. However it seems that the two will soon be targets of a strange sort of psychic vampires called the True Knot, who are led by Rebecca Ferguson’s Rose the Hat. The trailer adds in impressively recreated moments from Kubrick’s 1980 film throughout and it all culminates with Danny revisiting his old hotel room in the Overlook.

Additionally Flanagan tweeted out the official poster for the film, which you can see below!

Trailer TODAY. #DoctorSleepMovie pic.twitter.com/HWO1Pp8KY5

— Mike Flanagan (@flanaganfilm) June 13, 2019

So for now, it seems that Flanagan is opting to make a film that simultaneously adapts King’s novel and treat it as a sequel to Kubrick’s horror classic too. As a fan of all parties involved, I can’t wait to see how he pulls it off!

What do you think? Be sure to share your thoughts below!

SOURCES: Warner Bros via YouTube, Twitter