Goodbye ‘Carrie,’ Stephen King’s Most Faithful Movie Adaptation Is Officially Back on Streaming
Mike Flanagan’s film adaptation of Stephen King’s *Doctor Sleep* helped soften the author’s long-standing dislike of Stanley Kubrick’s *The Shining*. The sequel drew on both King’s novel and Kubrick’s film, showing that the two versions could inform a continuation of Danny Torrance’s story.
The 2019 film follows an adult Danny, who works in a hospice and uses his psychic abilities to comfort patients, as he connects with a girl called Abra hunted by a vampire cult. Flanagan told King he wanted to use Kubrick’s imagery, including the Overlook Hotel; King was initially reluctant, but approved a scene set there despite the hotel being in ruins in his novel. *Doctor Sleep* is now available on Paramount Plus.
- Flanagan’s *Doctor Sleep* changed King’s view of Kubrick’s *The Shining*.
- The sequel blends elements of King’s book and Kubrick’s film.
- The 2019 film is streaming on Paramount Plus.
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Stephen King’s 1977 novel The Shining follows Danny Torrance, a boy with psychic abilities, and his family’s stay at a remote hotel. Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation became widely known, but King disliked how it changed his story and characters.
Doctor Sleep is King’s later novel about Danny as an adult. Its film adaptation connects elements of King’s book with images and ideas from Kubrick’s film, continuing Danny’s story across both versions.
The story follows Danny as he uses his abilities to comfort people near the end of their lives and meets Abra, a girl pursued by a group that feeds on psychic powers. The film’s approach matters because it brings together two influential but different versions of the same story.