'1408' review

Rating: *** out of ****

“Hotel rooms are a naturally creepy place”, Mike Enslin utters into his tape recorder, practically his only form of outward communication in Mikael Hafstrom’s ‘1408’. John Cusak plays Mike, a horror writer who spends his time traveling across America debunking supposedly haunted hotels, writing about it and raking in the dough from the fan boys. ‘1408’ is the most recent adaptation of a Stephen King thriller, and one of the best to come along in a while.

One day Mike gets an anonymous postcard telling him not to stay in room 1408 of The Dolphin Hotel, New York City. The fact that the numbers in 1408 add up to 13 is sure to be a popular trivia question somewhere in the near future. Mike being the brazen type, immediately hops a plane to New York to stay in the room. “It’s an evil f-ing room”, warns Gerald Olin, the Manager of the hotel played by Samuel L. Jackson in a role that didn’t necessarily require a star such as him. He makes more than due however, dutifully warning Cusak’s character and the audience with the horror stories of the 56 people who have died in room 1408 since the hotel opened. It is true that the imagination is far scarier than anything that can be shown. I found myself more anxious during Jackson’s tales than any other time, visualizing scenes more intense and horrific than anything the film had to offer. That is how ‘1408’ gets its scares. It is purely psychological, and even though its effects run thin over the course of its run-time, it is still relatively effective up until the last frame.

Enslin – almost mocking Olin – refuses to be persuaded and enters 1408. Almost immediately the shocks begin, subtly and then building ever more intensely. The beauty of ‘1408’ is the ingenious use of the hotel room. I was reminded of two other recent hotel thrillers, ‘Vacancy’ and ‘Bug’, in the creative ways to use the same set repeatedly and yet the setups always seem fresh. We’re always in the same room, but at times it feels like separate environments.

One of the most interesting aspects of ‘1408’ is how Cusak remains alone for two thirds of the film and yet has consistent dialogue. It is very easy to have a character speaking to themselves and have it come across as forced, but here it works. The film takes a page from Zemeckis’s ‘Cast Away’, using the tape recorder as Cusak’s ‘Wilson’ – an inanimate device that allows us to know what he is thinking and feeling. As the story progresses and Mike descends further into madness, the tape recorder becomes less involved as the character just thinks aloud. This is believable by now, as much of what he says is reactionary and often has him babbling almost incoherently.

‘1408’ does take some steps off the path. What actually takes place in the room is not as foreboding as the buildup given by the Manager. You can feel the terror dialed down a bit by the PG-13 rating. There is a false ending sequence, which seemed unnecessary and actually takes us out of the film for an awkward moment. Jackson shows up once again in the third act for an obligatory cameo, which, once again breaks some great tension. The largest curiosity I had however was that it seemed the room could not hurt Mike, it just attempts to drive him mad or to hurt himself. There is a point where a ghost appears, swings a weapon at him, and does not connect. There is another moment when a ghost seems to be trying to push him out a window, but is actually just trying to scare him into falling. It seemed to me that Mike would clue in to this fact relatively quickly and then slowly become desensitized to the room’s threats – making it ineffectual. The room felt like a bully, where if you stood up to it and showed you weren’t afraid of it, it would leave you alone.

Nevertheless, ‘1408’ provides some strong thrills and cold chills, coupled with strong performances by Cusak and Jackson. It may not be as great a shocker as some of King’s others (The Shining, The Stand, IT) but it does its job well and with enthusiasm - and in a time of countless by-the-numbers thrillers and timid horror films, that's fine by me.