Warning: The following contains spoilers for Doctor Sleep, in theaters Nov. 8
Doctor Sleep expands the world of The Shining to include a whole host of new powers and abilities. At times, it even feels like a horror-tinged take on the superhero genre.
Here are all the new Shining powers that are featured in Doctor Sleep.
DAN
Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) has largely stopped using his Shining abilities by the time he's introduced as an adult. He's even become an alcoholic as a result of his attempt to use liquor to dull the effects of his powers. However, after making a life for himself in a small town and working at a hospice center, it's revealed that Dan has put one of his new powers to good use. He can tell when someone is near natural death because he can see black flies hovering around them. This allows him to know when to be there for people's final moments, earning him the nickname Doctor Sleep from one of his patients.
Dan also exhibits a new power that not even the experienced True Knot has ever encountered. After Abra (Kyliegh Curran) has been captured by Crow Daddy (Zahn McClarnon), she's drugged and incapable of using her powers. She's only able to reach out to Dan. Dan then essentially body hops into her, briefly controlling her physically. He's able to use her powers to cause the car to go off the road, fatally wounding Crow Daddy and saving Abra.
HALLORANN
Despite dying during the events of The Shining, Dick Hallorann (Carl Lumbly) still serves as a guardian to Dan Torrance. Using his powers, he's able to cross the bridge from the afterlife. He describes it as his reality's version of dreaming. He does more in Dan's youth, returning to scold him at his darkest depth. He visits Dan one more time after Dan has tells Abra to hide from the True Knot. Hallorann tells Dan this will be the last time he sees him, and asks Dan to teach Abra the same way Hallorann guided him.
When Dan is a child, Hallorann teaches him how to use a powerful ability. If a spirit is trying to feed on someone with the Shining, it's possible to create a box inside your mind that can trap the malevolent spirit. This ability helps Dan contend with the spirits that follow him from the Overlook Hotel. The ability may also work on human minds, as Dan and Abra were almost able to trap Rose inside one of those boxes during their psychic battle towards the end of the film.
ROSE
Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) is the leader of the True Knot, the gang of Shining vampires who travel the world to steal the souls of people with powers. All of them have their own unique abilities. Rose uses her powers to see around the world, making it easier for her and her group to find their next targets with relative ease. She's not used to being confronted by people with enough power to stop her, so she isn't prepared for Abra to attack her.
When Rose and her group find someone, they kill them slowly and painfully. This is so their soul, which has the power of the Shining, will leave their bodies at a slower rate. The members of the True Knot inhale the souls as they leave the body, feeding them and empowering them. It's like a drug for the characters, with Rose only keeping the group from consuming everything by using a specially designed device that can hold the spirits for extended periods of time.
ANDI
Snakebite Andi (Emily Alyn Lind) is introduced early in the film. Andi is a "Pusher", a very specific psychic ability. Much like Purple Man from Marvel, she's able to command people to follow her direct orders. She initially uses her powers to rob middle-aged men who she meets online that are trying to hook up with teenagers. After robbing them, she cuts the victims with her knife, leaving a distinct scar. This is the source of her snakebite nickname.
Andi proves to be a very powerful presence in the film, and she simplifies things for the True Knot. With her power to control people, she's even able to affect others with the Shining. This makes kidnapping little Bradley Trevor (Jacob Tremblay) to harvest him much easier. She is even able to restrain and almost kill Dan, who's exceptionally powerful himself. However, he's saved by the timely intervention of his friend Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis). Fatally wounded, Andi orders Billy to kill himself in her final moments -- an act he immediately goes through with.
ABRA
Despite all the powers the various characters display throughout the film, the most powerful is the youngest in the story. Abra is introduced early on as a prodigy. Dan can sense and speak to her with more ease than he did Dick Hallorann. Rose even calls her one of the most powerful figures she's ever seen, suggesting that someone this strong can't be allowed to live and amass even more power.
However, Abra proves capable of standing up for herself. She's actually able to use Rose's attempts at spying to read her mind and learn the true intentions of the True Knot. She's capable of standing up to Rose in a psychic duel, injuring and distracting her. She's also able to stand up to the Overlook Hotel, and even stop an ax aimed at her face by the possessed Dan. The important thing to remember is that she's still young and could easily become more powerful over time.
Written and directed by Mike Flanagan, Doctor Sleep stars Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Carl Lumbly, Alex Essoe and Zahn McClarnon. It opens Nov. 8 nationwide.