1408 (Widescreen Edition)

Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom

Starring: John Cusack & Samuel L. Jackson

Ah, the fabled haunted house movie, centuries old and yet still as effective as ever at scaring the living piss out of its audience.

It just so happens that they’re my Achilles heel, I’m a fairly jaded mofo but a total sucker for a good scary movie.

And if their’s one person who knows how to freak you out it’s Stephan King, but let’s face it, the success rate of Stephan King adaptations is oh-so-very far from optimistic. The laundry list of bad adaptations is as long as Pai Mai’s beard, Thinner, The Langoliers or the mother of all bad King adaptations, The Mangler come to mind.

But once in a blue moon one comes along that isn’t half bad and some even go so far as to be good, think The Shining, Carrie, Christine and now 1408.

After his daughters death, writer/paranormal investigator Mike Enslin (John Cusack) became obsessed with the afterlife, after years of failed searching he no longer believes (yeah I’m quoting parts of the trailer, so what), a postcard from The Dolphin Hotel comes to his mail with the words “Don’t enter 1408” so of course he books a night at The Dolphin and requests Room 1408.

The Hotel Manager, Jerold Olen, (Samuel L. Jackson) informs Mike of the rooms infamous past and the fifty-six deaths that occurred in the room, but after repeated request and attempts to scare Mike from his plans Mike presses onwards and takes his first step into 1408.

Bad shit starts happening, at first things are moved, but then Mike begins to hear things, then see things and before long the room enters full fledged fuck with your mind mode and goes buck wild in an attempt to drive Mike over the edge and into a world of insanity.

1408 is one of those rare movies that affects you in places that few others can get to, it’s not that it’s scary, because in all honesty there isn’t much more in the way of scary then a few very effective jump scares, the way 1408 affects you is in its endless sense of dread that it instills in you.

It has a claustrophobic quality to it in the same vein of Alien and The Descent, that grows on you. When I left the theater after watching 1408 I had this nervous feeling of unease that stuck with me long after I hopped in my car and drove home.

Its effect is achieved simply by being simplistic, it’s one room in which takes place what is essentially a one man movie, which brings me to John Cusack who plays the part of Mike Enslin to a tee, spiraling into insanity quite nicely, though he does borderline on over the top but for the most part he stays solid.

As mentioned earlier, Stephan King adaptations have a high mortality rate if you know what I mean, one possible explanation is that the filmmakers don’t keep the stories essence in mind when doing their adaptation, this is not the case with 1408, it looks, feels and almost smells of King, it’s all there, the manic obsession to detail, the rich and potent mythical world and the all to familiar spiral into a personal hell that has become a staple of many Stephan King stories makes this undeniably king.

SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The biggest slice of negativity that I can dish out is the ending, it’s not that it’s a bad ending, it’s just not a very good one either. Though kind of creepy in its own way it felt somewhat anti-climactic and unfulfilling.

It would have been better if it was more of an ambiguous ending where Mike realizes he’s still stuck in the room and nothing he does will help him, it’d be a downer ending but hey, it worked for Se7en.

END THE SPOILING

1408 is a fresh, tightly packed and nicely paced movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat without the use of excessive violence or gore, proving, in an age where gran-guinol rules over all, that it can still be done, and done well.

4 out of 5

-Danny Price
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