Entertainment
Stephen King’s 2-Film Horror Franchise Is Officially Everything ‘IT’ Should Have Been
Killer clowns. Childhood trauma. Alien spiders. Andy Muschietti’s 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal classic, IT, had everything going for it. Finally, the beloved story would have the modern adaptation that it deserved. After the campy Tim Curry Pennywise, the two-part film series delved into the true depths of horror as Bill Skarsgård took the stage as Pennywise.
IT: Chapter One was a phenomenal, faithful adaptation of the central story, while updating the ‘50s nostalgia to the ’80s. The decision to split up King’s tome was a necessary one, but inevitably, the ending of IT: Chapter Two would not have the same juice as its predecessor. The chemistry between the kids did not translate to their adult counterparts. Though it was a solid attempt, the IT franchise was a bit unbalanced. This was not the case for another two-part series that succeeded where IT failed.
‘Doctor Sleep’ Is the Perfect Combination of Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick
Upon its release, Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep was tragically not embraced. Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining was a fascinating look at sobriety after Jack Torrance’s reign of terror. Doctor Sleep would later be acknowledged as a successor to The Shining in a way that didn’t work with IT.
Flanagan accomplished this by seamlessly interweaving the canon of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and King’s original story. The Eyes Wide Shut filmmaker famously threw the king of horror off-kilter with the monumental changes he made to the story. Flanagan’s movie went a long way to rectifying this with the story of Dan Torrance’s (Ewan McGregor) struggle with sobriety in adulthood.
Doctor Sleep picks up decades after his father’s demise in the hedge maze of the Overlook Hotel. While this ending differed from King’s original vision, Flanagan still made it work. After Dan meets Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran), another child with the Shining, the final showdown with the terrifying psychic vampires known as the True Knot occurs at the structure, which is still standing. Flanagan incorporates the unforgettable score from Kubrick’s movie and the unsettling decor.
The ending of King’s book is also honored, as the Overlook finally gets the book-accurate conclusion the author was waiting for. At the end of The Shining, King writes that the hotel explodes because of the incident in the boiler room. Though Kubrick’s version had an icier ending, the fate of the Overlook finally comes to a head. The hotel burns to the ground at the end of Doctor Sleep, making a clear indication that both versions were worthy of portrayal. This was the difference between The Shining franchise and IT, which was almost shackled by its devotion to book accuracy.
Mike Flanagan’s Artistic Freedom Allowed ‘Doctor Sleep’ To Burn Brightly
Mike Flanagan has never been someone who lives and dies by book accuracy. These adaptations of The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher merely take inspiration from these celebrated works of horror. Flanagan’s upcoming take on Carrie is also heavily modernized, altering many of the characters for a new generation.
Doctor Sleep had fewer changes, but the changes that were made allowed the movie to soar. Flanagan’s alterations were necessary for the story to resonate with King fans and uninitiated viewers alike. It would have been impossible for him to ignore the canon of something so iconic as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. At the same time, none of these features would be here without King, and the director honored him up until the final frames.
Doctor Sleep is genuinely terrifying, as Rebecca Ferguson portrays one of King’s most vicious villains. This differed from Andy Muschietti’s solid attempt at adapting a story as overwhelming as IT. Even splitting the story into two movies was not enough to make this adaptation as iconic as The Shining universe. The two movies still had to cut major components of the book to make a concise narrative.
IT’s greatest achievement would instead be accomplished with the HBO series, Welcome to Derry, which did a better job of being a spiritual telling of the book if not a literal one. The first batch of IT movies were constrained by being too faithful to the book, which made some elements not be a hit with modern viewers. Doctor Sleep may not have accomplished this at first, but time has been much kinder to the sequel to The Shining.
- Release Date
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November 8, 2019
- Runtime
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152 minutes
- Producers
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Trevor Macy
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