1408 (2007)

Director: Mikael Håfström

Writer: Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, Stephen King

Tagline: The Dolphin Hotel invites you to stay in any of its stunning rooms. Except one.

Actors: John Cusack, Paul Birchard, Margot Leicester, Walter Lewis, Tony Shalhoub, Samuel L. Jackson

Runtime: 1h 34m

Category: Book Adaptation, Psychological, Thriller

Synopsis: Mike Enslin is an occult writer doing a book about the one hundred scariest hotels. Since the projects inception, Mike has been dismayed and unimpressed; countless amounts of mail from hotels across the U.S. claiming to have paranormal activity; all disappointing. But one day he gets a post card that says simply “Don’t enter 1408” at the Dolphin Hotel in New York. Intrigued, Mike shoots out to New York to do his “routine investigation”. Upon his arrival, manager Gerald Olin lures Mike into his office. There Olin tries to persuade Mike to not stay in 1408 with expensive liquor and access to the file containing information pertaining to all fifty-six deaths related to 1408. Even more intrigued, Mike convinces Olin to let him stay and the key is handed over. What happens next is a winding road of psychosis and nightmare all wrapped up into a tight little ball of everything you fear the most…then it explodes!

Review: You gotta love Stephen King! Only a man that deranged can make up a story like this and not think twice. I would never harp on Mr. King in any way shape or form, but I must say that he is one of the most brilliant and screwed up individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of being entertained by. From book to film, and film to book…this man is a master of all things scary and horrifying. So, without further delay, I give you…1408!

The story was the second most compelling portion of this movie. Finally redeeming myself from Bug (2006), that debacle of a movie I dragged one of my friends to, this film pulled out all the stops. From beginning to end I was absolutely captivated. Yet, I was worried about Cusack, being a comedy front-man most of the time (more on that later). But everything played very well into a story that seemed to be an evil mix of The Shining (1980), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Dark Corners (2006). I know it sounds kinda strange but it’s true; this movie had some of the most horrifying scenes I’ve seen in cinema in a very long time. Whatever you do…don’t blink…

Cusack’s cynical nature made his character far beyond my expectations. He brought just the right amount of humor and condescend…ding…ness (probably not a real word) to give his character an aura of professionalism and skepticism. Leading into this psychotic story in which he is to be mentally tortured for the rest of his life, Cusack was able to convince me of his every emotion. Especially when he went off on the mini-bar and when he saw his daughter. On a side note, during that scene when he was talking to his daughter…something historic had happened; not a single person in that theatre made a sound. The only thing you could hear was that damn projector. There is no question in my mind about Cusack’s acting ability…undeniably, one of our best.

The effects made this movie. You can have the creepiest story ever written but it won’t matter an inch if you can’t produce the effects. This movie did not disappoint. Like I said before…only Stephen King. But I must note that this director should get some serious mad props for this, because I haven’t seen a movie this visually and mentally enticing since House on Haunted Hill (1999). From what I heard from a reliable source, this movie was supposed to be scarier than The Shining (1980)…I’m not sure if I can say that. This movie was mostly visual and mental terror, whereas the latter is mostly implied. The Shining (1980) was written so that we could scare ourselves…nudging us into fear. This movie, although phenomenal in its own rite, delivered fewer implications and more visuals. Now, this is not necessarily bad, however, I must say that the visual effects, coupled with an astounding audio track, did deliver an overly sufficient amount of terror. Apart from a couple of dry areas…this movie scared me…yes SCARED me.

Rating: 25. Yes, 25. I have been fretting over this for a little over twenty-four hours and finally came to the conclusion…I can’t rip this movie at all! I had only one problem with this movie, but it seems too minute to even warrant mentioning. But I will; it was the person attacking Enslin in the room. That character had no explanation, but was eventually seen inside a painting after it had already been inspected. Just seems like a continuity error or something. But even that; though it did bother me a bit, cannot make me give this movie anything less than what it deserves. I applaud the cast and crew for putting out the best movie I’ve seen all year. DO NOT MISS THIS MOVIE!! (25of25).