1408 (22 June 2007)
directed by Mikael Håfström
starring John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Tony Shalhoub, Benny Urquidez, Jasmine Jessica Anthony
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MPAA rating: Studio: Dimension Films, Di Bonaventura Pictures Script: Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski Based on the book by: "Short story"Stephen King Music: Gabriel Yared Running time: 104 minutes Tags: cigars; evil; ghosts; haunted places; Horror; hotels; suicide; Thriller; whiskey; writers Tactical strength: [8/10]
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for thematic material including disturbing sequences of violence and terror, frightening images and language
1408 provides some of the best psychological horror that I have seen in quite some time. The plot comes from a short story by Stephen King. Screenplays based on King's works usually either work extremely well or flop, and 1408 joins the few King movies that work really well. And it does so with minimal blood and gore.
Mike Enslin (John Cusack) has made a career of debunking the ghost stories of places that try to use the stories as publicity. He has a very cynical view on the paranormal, and admits at a book signing that he would love to see something paranormal, but he just doesn't think that he ever will. Mike gets all sorts of invitations to visit "haunted" hotels all over the United States, but one postcard from the Dolphin hotel intrigues him. It tells him, "Don't enter 1408." When Mike tries to book 1408, the clerk tells him over the phone that the room is unavailable. Mike shows up at the Dolphin hotel determined to bully his way into 1408, and he gets pulled aside by the hotel manager, Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson). Olin tries repeatedly to talk Mike out of staying in 1408, citing more than 50 deaths that have occurred and handing Mike a dossier filled with pictures and descriptions of the dead. Olin also states that no one has ever stay in the room for more than an hour. But Mike gets his way and finally checks into the room.
At first the room seems entirely normal, but then some minor oddities happen. Of course, the door won't open, trapping Mike in the room. The clock radio goes off, blaring the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun to Live" and starts counting down from 60:00. He notices that the bed on which he had sat has been remade -- including the mints on the pillow. Going into the bathroom, he notices that the toilet paper has been neatly refolded, even though he used some tissue earlier. More weird events start happening, and Mike suspects that the complimentary whiskey he received from Olin might have contained hallucinogens. But as the room start using Mike's past against him, he doesn't care about the possible drugs and turns to the booze several times.
Following the best form of psychological horror, 1408 has you spend much of the film wondering if the events Mike experiences actually happen or just come from Enslin's head. As Mike passes through one harrowing experience to another, we start to get the idea that he wasn't particularly stable before he checked into the Dolphin hotel. We learn that the year before he lost a daughter, Katie (Jasmine Jessica Anthony), about ten years old, to some terminal disease. We see flashbacks of Mike assuring Katie that she will go to heaven, but we see from the look on Mike's face that he doesn't believe in god or heaven. And since he doesn't believe in god, he doesn't believe in evil or the paranormal. Regardless, the question becomes whether Mike can survive the psychological and physical attacks that he encounters.
Essentially John Cusack does a one man show. Although he does interact with a few supporting characters, Cusack spends most the screen time alone in a hotel room. He takes the character of Mike Enslin from a haughty skeptic to a quivering man on the verge of suicide -- and all the stages in between that make the transition believable. I thought Cusack overplayed his character a bit at first. I didn't think a long-time skeptic would rattle as quickly as Mike does -- just a few minutes after entering the room, he calls the front desk trying to check out. But fairly soon, Cusack's portrayal balance out with his character's experiences. The script gives Cusack the opportunity to portraying various sorts of horror, from physical pain to the emotions of losing a child, and he portrays the horror without ever falling back to the tounge-in-cheek comedy that marks most of his other works.
1408 has some minor missteps. For example, a scene involving Mike's publisher, Sam (Tony Shalhoub), doesn't add anything to the story line. On the DVD, one of the alternate endings shows Sam reading Mike's manuscript about 1408. With that ending, you would need to introduce the publisher earlier in the film, but since director Håfström followed a more creative and emotionally satisfying ending, he doesn't need the earlier scene with Sam at all. You can easily overlook the few minor problems and enjoy the creative torments the room inflicts on Cusack's character and loose count of the number of times the film makes you jump in your chair.
