Doctor Sleep Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

4. It Handles Fan Service (Mostly) Well

Fans will mostly be excited to see how Doctor Sleep ends up connecting to The Shining, and for the most part Flanagan handles a difficult situation well.

Obviously, the temptation to over-indulge in fan service speaks for itself, but for most of the film's first two hours, the references to Kubrick's film are actually relatively restrained, and the focus is trained on telling a totally different story.

Most of the crowd-pleasing fan fodder is reserved for the film's finale, and though some (admittedly spot-on) recreations of classic moments from The Shining with new actors might feel like overkill to some fans, you can't really deny the love and care that has gone into the production.

The Overlook Hotel is painstakingly recreated for the film's final stretch, and while absolutely a case of "giving the audience what they want," that does feel rather earned after two hours of relatively pared-down storytelling.