This movie isn't terrible, it has a lot of strong moments that both call back to the original and are entirely new. Rose astral projecting across America only to be caught in Abra's trap (least she didn't go out like a bitch though mirite fellas? #RianRuinedStarWars), Danny reuniting with his father's ghost, the introduction of Snakebite Andi, learning how to defeat the crone, etc..

The problem is that the movie spends A Lot of time with the vampires. Like so much. And the purpose is to make us feel sympathetic towards them, or so it seems. Yes they care about each other very much which is a good quality, but the only other thing they do during the entire story is murder and eat children. Soooo yeah fuck those guys I don't really need to feel bad when they die. Especially Snakebite Andi, who I mentioned earlier as getting a great introduction, does fuck all for the rest of the movie. Not even a sliver of irony about how she once used her powers to fight sexual predators, but is now the one preying on children herself. Also, much like It 2, there are like 5 different prologues and we just didn't need them all. At least thirty minutes could have been cut from this movie.

I rather enjoyed it, sad its flopping. This is also the best I've seen Rebecca Ferguson.

Woah, now that I've seen it, I'm so sD it flopped this bad

A-

What was the point of spending so much time with the vampires if all they did was kill children lol

I really wasn't excited for this. I have never disliked a Mike Flanagan film but the trailers didn't do much for me. But I thought it was fantastic! One of my favorites this year. Rebecca Ferguson is award-worthy and Rose the Hat is one of the best villains in ages. Can't stop thinking about her or the film.

It's a huge shame this is flopping. I blame Warners Bros for not releasing this in October. They should have premiered at TIFF ala Halloween (2018) to build buzz and then released in October. We needed a big horror film in October and this would have fit the bill. I'm so disgusted they botched this.

Anyway, great film. Wouldn't mind going again.

9/10 (A)

Really solid flick and it definitely felt like a Mike Flanagan film all the way through. I'm sad that it flopped at the BO, but honestly I'm not too surprised that it did either. This is certainly not one of your average, mainstream horror films filled with jump scares and gore which I actually really appreciate, and its honestly pretty bold to think that Warner Bros even decided to greenlight something like this in the first place, especially with a $45M budget. Ewan McGregor and the girl who played Abra were very solid in this, and damn is Rebecca Ferguson a pretty great villain.

B+

Is watching The Shining a prerequisite for understanding/enjoying this one?

It has been so long (25 yrs) since I've seen it and not sure if i should re-watch.

If you remember the main plot of shining then it's not a pre-requisite. The house comes in only last 15 minutes or so