Eric D. Snider
1408
Movie Review
"1408"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: B+
Rating: PG-13
Released: Friday, June 22, 2007
Directed by:
Cast:
"1408" is the first theatrical film in quite a while to be based on a Stephen King horror story, and if its creepy excellence is the indication of a new trend after so many misfires, then I say bring 'em on. If you like "spooky" but not "gross" -- if you like to be scared without being assaulted -- then "1408" should do the trick.
It's based on a short story, not a novel, and so the premise is admirably simple: A guy plans to spend the night in a hotel room where dozens of previous occupants have died mysteriously. The guy is Mike Enslin (John Cusack), a weary, cynical writer of supernatural-themed travel books along the lines of "Ten Haunted Bed & Breakfasts" or "Ten Haunted Baseball Stadiums," or whatever. He has long yearned for genuine contact with the Other Side, but in all his travels, even in the places most famous for being haunted, he has never seen anything real. His life is one perpetual disappointment.
He's intrigued, therefore, by room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York City. Dozens of people have died there over the decades, a few by the obvious suicide methods but many in unorthodox and disturbing ways, some by no discernible self-inflicted means at all. Before the room was finally made off-limits, it was getting to where no guest survived more than an hour in it. Is it haunted? Possessed? Something else? The hotel manager, Mr. Olin, played by Samuel L. Jackson, puts it more simply, as only Samuel L. Jackson can: "It is an evil f****** room." Well said, sir.
So why does he agree to let Mike stay in it? Because Mike's publisher's lawyers find an obscure law forbidding a hotel manager from declining to give a customer a specific room if that specific room is unoccupied. If Mike wants 1408, and if 1408 is not already booked, then you gotta give him 1408. I'm not sure a law like that exists in real life, but hey, I can buy it. Without it, we don't have a movie.
Regardless of how it occurs, Mike winds up in the room and waits for spooky stuff to start happening. Which, um, it does. Fairly promptly. Radios turning on by themselves, mints appearing on the pillow where seconds ago there were no mints, things like that. Mike is unnerved, but he's more excited. Finally! For the first time in his career as a supernaturalist, he's actually encountering something supernatural!
Suffice it to say that the unexplained phenomena get more extreme than surprise mints and unwelcome radio broadcasts. The room is indeed evil, as Mr. Jackson pointed out, and what happens there messes with Mike's mind while it causes high blood pressure and wet pants in the audience. It's good old-fashioned sustained scariness -- not shock or terror, just scariness. The fun kind.
Most of the film is set in this hotel room (actually more of a two-room suite), often with Cusack the only actor onstage. His work is a study in acting technique as he passes from skeptical to rattled to terrified to wild-eyed insane over the course of the story, never failing to be interesting as an actor and relatable as a character. His main scene with Jackson is fantastic, two solid actors engaged in don't-go-in-the-haunted-room! expository dialogue that's juuuust this side of campy. (Three horror-genre veterans are credited with adapting King's story for the screen.) And don't forget, Cusack has a built-in rapport with the audience -- who doesn't like John Cusack? -- which means we're immediately on his side no matter what.
Director Mikael Hafstrom, who previously made the middling American thriller "Derailed" and the well-regarded Swedish thriller "Evil," does a fine job maintaining the suspense and fearfulness of room 1408. He's mature enough to know that louder is not necessarily scarier (dig the unbearably tense moments of silence and near-silence), but impish enough to know that sometimes, yeah, loud is awesome. There are some effectively haunting and frightening images throughout the film.
Hafstrom can't quite overcome the story's slightly disappointing conclusion, though. Stories like this are ridiculously hard to end. A crazy twist might provide a jolt but ultimately make no sense, while a more logical, realistic finale will feel like a letdown. What "1408" needs is something to make the spookiness last up to the final moments, rather than spending the last several minutes in resolution. Then again, I can't come up with a better ending than the one they went with, so maybe I should just change my pants and shut up.
Grade: B+
Rated PG-13, scattered profanity, some violent images, lots of general scariness
1 hr., 34 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 31 comments
June 22, 2007 at 1:16 am
Sounds pretty good. I vaguely remember listening to this story on tape and remember thinking it would make a good movie. It's been a while since they came out with a good scary movie that doesn't confuse gore with suspense. Hopefully this won't disappoint.
June 22, 2007 at 1:52 am
"who doesn't like John Cusack?" I was forced to watch Better Off Dead because my then very recently wed wifey told me it was a hilarious movie. I know it's a bit childish, but the only way I got through that crappy piece of crap was imagining John Cusack dying a horrible screaming bloody death. But it was imaginary killing in self defense! There was a singing hamburger for $#&% sake!!
so yeah, I'll definately see this movie if theres any chance Mr. Cusack will indeed die a horrible screaming bloody death. Maybe that will appease the burning hatred I've harbored for him for so long so I can join the rest of society in liking him again!
:-)
June 22, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Well *I* like John Cusack AND Stephen King. I read the story after I heard about the movie and realized I owned the book it (the story) was in. Very spooky. I plan to see it tomorrow and, after reading your review, I'm looking forward to needing some spare Depends.
Now if someone could do a really decent film treatment of "From A Buick 8" I'd be in hog heaven.
June 22, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Yup, this sounds like my kind of movie. Finally, an excuse for wetting my pants!
I love scary stuff, but not gory, painful stuff. And I love Stephen King. I didn't like Better Off Dead much because I didn't care for John Cusack, but I like him now that he's not playing an oversensitive teenager any more. So I'm going tonight!
June 23, 2007 at 12:15 am
That was scary! And John Cusack is now one of my favorite actors.
June 23, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Every time someone badmouths "Better Off Dead," a part of my soul dies. I hope you're all proud of yourselves.
June 24, 2007 at 1:30 am
That was fantastic. I loved every part of the movie, even the ending. I actually thought that the ending *Spoiler*
kind of hinted that he was still in the room, but perhaps not.
June 25, 2007 at 12:49 am
I'm sorry, BeeDub. I think I didn't like Better Off Dead as much because of the circumstances in which I saw it, too. I had just had surgery and was home alone with my drugs, and had rented Tommy Boy and Better Off Dead. I watched Tommy Boy first, and was kind of in a drug-induced stupor by the time I got to B.O.D. Now that I like John Cusack so much, I'll have to watch it again.
Savvy Veteran, I thought the ending of 1408 was great, too, but *SPOILER* I didn't think it meant he was still in the room. I was actually glad he had proof of what had happened.
June 25, 2007 at 8:44 am
Another * Spoiler* My husband and I had different takes on the end- me thinking that he was still in the room and now she was too and him thinking he had proof. We also based our opinions on that same John Cusak to die for smile (at least I think it's to die for while agagin my husband disagress) at the end. I love endings that do that, leave so much to be talked about. Scary is so much better when it's not bloody. Anytime someone does justice to the brilliant mind of
Stephen King, it's a beautiful thing.
June 27, 2007 at 12:45 am
**Spoiler** My first thought was that he was still in the room but that she was now stuck in there with him. I guess I thought back to the part where he said that this didn't involve her and that they couldn't have her, but that she was coming anyway. I think the idea that he has proof now is an interesting one, but the smile looked a little too evil and I didn't think that interpretation would coordinate as well with the rest of the movie (if that makes any sense). Giving him the proof wraps things up a little too nicely.
June 28, 2007 at 8:19 pm
having just watched the movie, it was quite good. not in-your-face scary, the conculsion was a bit of a let down, i thought perhaps cusack was stuck in that first room all along, the one he thought nothing happened in. Or, that his daughter would somehow save him, or that the ultimate test of "whatever" would be to turn his daughter away or something to that affect, anyways. i really enjoyed it. i knew when samuel l jackson was in it, it'd be a good one. and it wasn't too long winded like king's movies normally are!
June 29, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Does anyone think that the ending was not just about his wife hearing Katie's voice? Perhaps it is incinuating that Katie is a trapped spirit. Katie said that she wanted all three of them to be together again when Mike and Katie met in the room. Maybe it is partly saying that it was Katie's attempt to get them back together. Who knows.....but I think there's more to the end then meets the eye.
June 30, 2007 at 1:11 am
I will forever be stained with one Samuel L. Jackson's delivery of "It is an evil f*BZZZ*ing room." This is perhaps the best single line of dialogue I have heard in a movie all year.
June 30, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Also, this is one film I cannot imagine being even remotely scary if one watched it in one's home by way of DVD. You really need the full theatrical experience to get a kick out of this one. So, yeah, go see it now, or regret the consequences!
July 6, 2007 at 7:53 pm
I don't understand how people think that the wife is trapped in the room. She never even went upstairs. I think Enslin (Cusack) is still trapped in the room. Didn't Sammy Jackson's character specifically say that electronics didn't work in that room? So how was Enslin able to video conference with his wife? I think the ambiguous smile from Enslin at the end was him knowing he wasn't out of the room yet, and accepting his tragic fate. I think Sammy Jackson's statement "Well done" was him complimenting Enslin for making it past the first hour. What I can't grasp my mind around are the paintings. I know they have something to do with SOMETHING. One was a scooner lost at sea, one was 'The Hunt' and the last was a grandmother reading a bedtime story to three kids while another woman in the background (probably the mother) was breast feeding what appeared to be a dead baby. Do these tie in at all or am I out of my mind? Maybe I'm looking too much into this.
July 8, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Spoiler... I'm pretty sure the ending was suppose to mean he was still in the room here is why if you remember (for those who have seen it) when he was screaming at sam jackson in the refrigerator, Cusack saw an empty fridge with no booze but then a second later they showed the fridge. full of drinks because that was reality. If Cusack was really out of the room we only would of heard his voice on the tape recorder at the end not his daughters because "none of it was real" also why would he smile at his wife crying... it was him knowing he was screwed.
July 12, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Hmm..I guess the ending is one of those open-ended endings where we pretty much decide what we want the ending to be.
About the paintings...yeah...I can't help but think that they mean something. I remember in one of the scenes, there was a ghost that kept trying to kill him..that person was in one of the paintings..
October 4, 2007 at 8:07 am
um well i dont understand..is it like his imagination or something.
and also what i dont get is how the hotel guy knows that you ONLY last 1 hour in that room if hes never been..because supposivley everyone dies that enters that room. HELP
October 14, 2007 at 1:45 pm
After just watching the film i must say im very glad i didnt go to the cinema to watch it, what is happening with the ending? makes no sense at all!!
October 16, 2007 at 3:33 am
did anyone think about wen he was in the surfing accident when he looked up at the banner on the plane it said 1408? whats that all about? and when someone says replay the same hour i assume the same events would happen? and when he goes into the hotel (not the room) there is a woman with a baby in the lobby (not the room) and she ends up next door to him and then its his wife with their baby. and the whole cigarette thing has to have something to do with it.and when sam jackson is in the elevator with him he says he wont get out because he dosent go close to 1408 and he also says they prestend there isant a 13th floor then why is their other pople on that floor and food in the hall way????
October 24, 2007 at 8:22 am
the man is out of the room, The room burned all that was reality. For all those who think the ending was bad***at least it kept us guessing ***
November 2, 2007 at 9:19 am
Having read the reviews when while 1408 was in theaters, I had no intention of ever seeing the movie (because I really, really prefer to sleep in the dark), and then some friends rented the DVD for a birthday party last week. And David Manning is right, it's really not that scary on TV. Samuel Jackson and John Cusack together were a treat, and, besides, I love John Cusack! Even if a movie isn't the sort of thing I would watch, I would watch it and enjoy it if he was in it.
November 5, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I'm not sure what movie everyone else watched, but this was not a great, good or even half way decent movie. I totally do not like scary movies, but to be brave I rented the DVD. Scary? Are you kidding me??? I had to laugh just to keep myself awake.
November 11, 2007 at 8:29 am
I've loved John Cusack since I saw him play one of Farmer Ted's nerd cronies in Sixteen Candles. And I thought 1408 was great, because everything Enslin does actually makes sense. I felt sorry for him, mostly because of his questionable literary popularity and that one decent book no one knows about. I think Cusack is an excellent actor.
I've never seen Better Off Dead though.
November 25, 2007 at 4:28 pm
If anyone wants to know, the paintings do have relevance.
The person that attacked him from behind with the hammer when he's screaming for help across to himself is in the ship painting, you see it when it changes, they're standing in the middle holding a hammer, presumably they sunk the ship.
Also, the large woman that jumps out the window in the olden day clothes is in "The Hunt", she's sitting to the side and you see her watching when that painting changes too, and the dogs are ripping someone else apart. Not too sure what the other one is about thou.
Happy thinking!
Also, i think the ending is about proving to his wife that he really did see his daughter, seeing as she thinks it just came from him being confused and possibly mentally disordered. Katie's voice on the tape player shows that.
December 5, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Like, he's proving to himself and his wife that he really did see her, and despite his cynical attitude to the afterlife, he's finally proved it really does exist.
December 29, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Alright, I just saw this again, and there is (*possible spoiler*) no way that he isn't still in that room. The little smile he gives at the end...I mean, how could you think anything else?
January 1, 2008 at 4:03 am
I just finished watching the Director's Cut on DVD and the ending is *much* better than the theatrical release. This was the original cut, but they re-shot the ending after a few test screenings had them worried that the end was too much of a downer.
SPOILERS -- Cusack dies in the fire, there was never any rescue. Jackson visits the wife at the funeral and offers to give her some of Cusack's belongings they found in the room after the clean up, but she refuses. Jackson tells her that Cusack did a good thing, that he did not die in vein, but "Monk" interrupts him and says to leave the poor lady alone. So Jackson takes the box back to his car with him and opens it. Among the mostly burnt items is the tape recorder, and he presses play and listens to Cusack talking about the room decor then it cuts into the daughter's voice and weird noises. While listening to this he looks out the window and sees what appears to be an apparition of the daughter, running around in the playground. Then Jackson sees Cusack, all burnt up, in the back seat of his car -- but only for an instant. It scares the crap out of him (and the audience), but he calms down and drives off. We then see Cusack still in room 1408 with is daughter, as apparitions.
It's clear that even in the re-shot theatrical release ending that Cusack was still trapped in the room, though they toned it down and made it ambiguous enough so that those who like happy endings to their horror films can go with that. But the writers were winking at us and giving clues that point to the grim truth. And now we have the original cut on DVD that settles the matter.
Or, at least it settles that particular matter. There are still plenty of questions left. In the Director's Cut, the ending hints even more strongly that Jackson is involved directly with the phenomena of room 1408. The fact that he sees first the ghost of the daughter, then Cusack-Zombie in his car, raises interesting possibilities. When I saw Cusack's apparition appear to Jackson in his car, my first thought was that Jackson is the one in the room, seeing things. Or at least he may be among those in the room. But then it was clear that it was more complicated than that, yet he is somehow integrally involved. I am going to watch it again to get more clues.
May 19, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Spoiler* Just watched in again on DVD (even in a small home theater it's still plenty scarey). My husband had a very interesting take on Jacksone this time. He's an angel. Sent to keep more people from dying in the room. I think that fits nicely. I liked the director's cut ending better. Someone has to die to defeat evil. They didn't use that one in the theater because it didn't do well with focus groups (at least that's what I read) but I like him defeating the room and being with his daughter. I call that a happy ending.
June 22, 2008 at 4:17 am
I am just wondering if "Mike" died in the room and whatever evil was in there possessed his body and has now made it out to torture his wife. That's what the recording of the little girl and the smile were all about.
June 25, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I freakin love this movie! It is one of the few horror movies that are both really good AND (Gasp!) extremely intense. If you wanna watch some other crappy horror movie (The Butterfly Effect... 2?!?) than you have made as much a fatal mistake as going into room 1408