Stephen King: Doctor Sleep 'Redeems' The Shining

Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining remains to be a cinematic masterpiece, but you know who doesn't love it? Stephen King. With the supposed sequel Doctor Sleep coming out, King explains why he thinks this film actually ‘redeems' Kubrick's first movie—at least in his eyes.

Talking to EW, King explains, "I read the script to this one very, very carefully… Because obviously I wanted to do a good job with the sequel, because people knew the book The Shining, and I thought, I don't want to screw this up. Mike Flanagan, I've enjoyed all his movies, and I've worked with him before on Gerald's Game. So, I read the script very, very carefully and I said to myself, ‘Everything that I ever disliked about the Kubrick version of The Shining is redeemed for me here."

When it comes to King's disdain for the first film, he thinks that the movie is merely beautiful, but lost the point of the original story. He even goes so far as to refer to Kubrick's version as a "Cadillac with no engine in it. You can't do anything with it except admire it as a sculpture." One significant difference is that Jack Torrance actually reconciles with his son toward the end before he blows up with the hotel. If you can remember Kubrick's version, Jack ends up hating his family toward the end, freezes to death, then ends up in a spooky picture.

Whatever your opinion on The Shining is, Doctor Sleep looks to be reconciling both sides, making callbacks to the film, while at the same time keeping to King's vision. We don't know how that exactly goes down, but I guess we'll just have to watch the film to find out.

Doctor Sleep hits theaters Nov. 8.

Read Also: Catch Honest Trailer for The Shining Before Doctor Sleep Comes Out