‘Doctor Sleep’ Soundtrack Revisits ‘The Shining,’ Introduces Us to New Villains
Doctor Sleep may be the sequel to The Shining, but it’s still very much its own book: The horrors aren’t just related to the Overlook Hotel and its ghosts, but also (spoiler alert) a roving pack of vampire-like creatures that feast on children who possess that psychic glimmer knowing as the shining. As such, the music for the upcoming film echoes the original Stanley Kubrick adaptation, but brings in its own special air of doom.
Consequence of Sound premiered two tracks scored by The Newton Brothers: “The Overlook,” which takes us back to book one with a reprise of Wendy Carlos’ theme for the 1980 flick, and “The Hat, the Snake and Dan,” the title of which refers to both the vampiric villains of Doctor Sleep and Dan Torrance, the now-grownup child from The Shining.
“It was important for Doctor Sleep to have its own identity,” says director Mike Flanagan in a press release, “but we also wanted to call back to some of the feelings Kubrick created in The Shining. He utilized score and sound design in a way that created an impenetrable sense of dread.”
Author Stephen King notoriously despised the acclaimed Kubrick adaptation of his 1977 novel: He told the Paris Review in 2006, “Too cold. No sense of emotional investment in the family whatsoever on his part. … And Kubrick didn’t seem to have any idea that Jack Nicholson was playing the same motorcycle psycho that he played in all those biker films he did — Hells Angels on Wheels, The Wild Ride, The Rebel Rousers, and Easy Rider. The guy is crazy. So where is the tragedy if the guy shows up for his job interview and he’s already bonkers? No, I hated what Kubrick did with that.”
King seems much more enthused for Doctor Sleep, tweeting on October 23, “DOCTOR SLEEP: Mike Flanagan is a talented director, but he’s also an excellent storyteller. The movie is a good thing. You’ll like this if you liked THE SHINING, but you’ll also like it if you liked SHAWSHANK. It’s immersive.”
The full track list for the film — opening November 8 — is below:
Doctor Sleep Track List:
01. Dies Irae / Violet (Incorporating The Shining Main Title)
02. 237
03. Mrs. Massey
04. Please Talk Please
05. The Shining
06. Lockbox
07. Rattlesnake
08. Spoons
09. The Hat, The Snake & Dan
10. Turning
11. Gaucher’s Disease
12. Doctor Sleep
13. #19
14. Steam
15. Redrum
16. The Looker
17. Astral Projection
18. Who’s Tony?
19. Chimes & Outside Voices
20. Rose Traveling
21. Grampa Flick
22. The Things That Lived There
23. That Which Was Forgotten
24. The True Knot
25. Ventriloquism
26. Radio Waves
27. Going West
28. The Overlook
29. You Seem Put Upon
30. Bloody Elevators
31. Enough!
32. Ventus
33. The Hedge Maze Part I
34. The Hedge Maze Part II
35. Old Ghosts
26. We Go On