'Doctor Sleep'

In the horror thriller “Doctor Sleep,” director-screenwriter-editor Mike Flanagan gives Stephen King what he’s always wanted: A new hold on the fate of Danny Torrance, the little boy at the heart of his classic “The Shining.”

Whether that’s good for the rest of us, or for the memory of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of “The Shining” — hated by King and his loyalists, but beloved and obsessed over by an army of fans — is a split decision.

Flanagan, who was responsible for the amazing and creepy Netflix series “The Haunting of Hill House,” starts with imagery from Kubrick’s classic. In the prologue, it’s 1980, Danny (played as a youth by Roger Dale Floyd) and his mom, Wendy (Alex Essoe, done up to look a bit like Shelly Duvall), are living in Florida, far from the snows of the Overlook Hotel. Sometimes, though, Danny still sees Dick Hallorann (Carl Lumbly, doing a muted version of Scatman Crothers from the original), a ghost who teaches him how to use his “shining” powers.

The plot of “Doctor Sleep” kicks in when Flanagan introduces the True Knot, a caravan of travelers who seek out and consume the gifts of kids with “the shining.” Their leader is Rose the Hat, an ageless and powerful beauty played by Rebecca Ferguson (from the last couple “Mission: Impossible” movies).

Flash forward to this decade, and Danny — played as an adult by Ewan McGregor — is using alcohol to mute his “shining” abilities. Ultimately, he ends up in a small town in New Hampshire, and meets friendly guy, Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis). Billy sees something in Danny, so he gets him an apartment, and gets him into an AA meeting. Sober, Danny gets a job as an orderly at a hospice, where he finds himself easing terminally ill residents to a peaceful death.

But Danny, thanks to his “shining” power, detects Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran), a 13-year-old girl who has the same gifts a thousand-fold. Abra finds Danny, but their powers attract Rose’s attention — and soon the caravan is headed toward New Hampshire to hunt.

Through this middle section, Flanagan establishes a tight pace and a darkly brooding atmosphere. Taken on its own, this part of the film would stand up as a smart little horror thriller, and we’d all go home having enjoyed some satisfying scares.

But those bookends, when Flanagan tries to re-create the oppressive mood of Kubrick’s classic, become a problem. They stand as reminders of that earlier film, and make Flanagan’s effective work look tame and small in comparison. (Something similar happened with Peter Hyams’ 1984 movie “2010,” a perfectly serviceable outer-space thriller that fell apart because the beginning and end tried to redo Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”)

Flanagan tries to serve two masters in “Doctor Sleep,” to make a movie that’s both a worthy successor to Kubrick’s “The Shining” and a faithful adaptation of King’s books. But those two things are so much in opposition — King famously hates Kubrick’s version, and wrote a 1997 remake for TV — that Flanagan can’t square them. He’s like a host who invites both halves of a divorced couple to a party, and for all his efforts can’t make both of them happy.

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‘Doctor Sleep’

★★1/2

Opens Friday, November 8, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for disturbing and violent content, some bloody images, language, nudity and drug use. Running time: 152 minutes.