2019, Mike Flanagan (Gerald's Game) -- Netflix
Gone are the days from when I was the Stephen King fan (I bet you thought I was going to mention having been a movie fan again, didn't you?), and would have read every single one of his books as soon as the hardcovers hit the shelves. I knew this book was the sequel to The Shining, but I could not conceive of a continuation of the story that could be satisfying. This one definitely does it, takes the world that King introduced and expands upon it, moves it from one occurrence to a world of astonishing and terrible possibilities.
And yet, this was not a world present in the original Kubrick film. While I will never lose my absolute fascination for the movie, it is not something I am often eager to watch again. Its an impactful movie, somewhat too much for me. I think it really, truly represents fear for me. And yet, I cannot claim it did justice to the world King established, as Kubrick's film is less about Danny's shine, and more about Jack Torrance's utter collapse into insanity by way of an evil hotel.
And yet, Flanagan takes what we know from Kubrick's film, and adds back in all of the King magical realism elements. This is not just a world where a haunted house drove his father to madness, but a world where Danny "Doc" Torrance's supernatural powers both protect him and utterly endanger him. Its not just one kid, and one old man, but a world of people with powers, and monsters that prey on them.
The movie begins with Danny barely escaping the trauma of the hotel, especially since it follows his mother and him to Florida. But the spirit of Dick Halloran appears to give Doc a few tricks to protect himself. Alas, while he may be protected from the evil that the Overlook spawned, he is not able to escape his shine. And it haunts him constantly, driving him into the bottle. Eventually his running away takes him to New Hampshire, where he meets a kind man and a kind doctor, and they coax him into an AA meeting where he is saved. He also meets a nice little girl named Abra who lives far away, but not far enough away to stop her shine from being so bright that she can chat with Danny.
Alas someone, something else catches scent of her as well.
If there are those who shine bright, there are those that desire it. They are monsters, proto-vampires, humans that have learned to sup upon a particular byproduct of fear & pain that those who shine produce. They call it steam, and it feeds them, giving them long life. They may have once been people, but that time is past. They are boogeymen, the slayers of children with the shine.
Flanagan does not so much as make a horror movie, as he does a thriller about people with powers, good and evil, fighting it out. As I have commented about Flanagan's Absentia, there is a layer of heroic adventure behind the story. This was epic Good vs Evil, where the Good side does not shirk from its responsibility even when all can be lost. I absolutely loved that King and Flanagan could be so on the same page on how to present the next chapter for The Shining.
The Good here is Danny and Abra, two very bright shines. The evil here is called The True Knot, a group of wanderers in rotting RVs and camper vans, channeling the Travelers of UK infamy, especially so with their leader Rose (of the Hat) lilting a touch of an Irish accent, and displaying the affectations of Roma (Gypsy) folk. She is old, but some of her band are even older, maybe thousands of years old. But she is the most powerful and decides that she has to take Abra, for Abra's steam will be strong enough to sustain them for a very very long time. Rose and her people are not bad folk, but they are evil through and through, though I doubt they see it of themselves.
The movie does a full circle back to the Overlook, now abandoned, and to defeat the monster Rose, Danny has to release the monsters from the Overlook that he caged up all those years ago, with the help of Dick. Rose may be powerful, but she cannot stand to the utterly pure Evil that the hotel represents.
This movie was over two and a half hours long, but I didn't feel the time pass. It kept me attentive, but usually Ewan McGregor can do that. And Rebecca Ferguson as Rose, is just so beautiful and so dangerous, and so charismatic. They played off each other so well. I have heard there is a three hour version out there, and now I have seen the primary release, I shall endeavour to find and view this other Director's Cut. But not soon, I have much to let settle in.
Don't try and make me want to watch a King adaptation with your positivity...I said I wasn't going to do that anymore.
ReplyDeleteFlanagan also did Gerald's Game, also a King adaptation, which we have not yet watched because the wife abuse was a bit off-putting at the beginning.
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