The film based on a short story by Stephen King rivals the author's classic from 1980, The Shining
In New York's Dolphin Hotel, the building's owners can pretend that the thirteenth floor doesn't exist by calling it the fourteenth. They can deny entry into a particular room whose number adds up to 13. But there's no escaping the reality that Room 1408 is "an evil fucking room" that quickly drives its occupants insane to the point of death.
1408 is masterfully written, directed and acted, creating the best movie about a haunted place since The Shining in 1980. Like The Shining, 1408 is based on a story by Stephen King, and it displays that writer's classic trademarks. In many ways, 1408 is the more completely satisfying film, even though it's unlikely to establish the same kind of iconic stature in film history.
The conventions of the haunted house tale are as old and creaky and built upon formulaic blueprints as the spooky buildings themselves. 1408 certainly draws upon many often-used story elements, but as always, the pleasure is in experiencing how the story is retold and made new again.
It's interesting how much storytellers of humor and horror have in common. Whether it's in delivering a comic punchline or a short, sharp shock; a growing sense of giddy fun or a gathering sense of suspense and dread, timing is everything. The makers of 1408 got the timing down to a fine art.
Mike Enslin, the protagonist of 1408, is a writer who documents haunted tourist destinations in a series of books for fans of the supernatural. Following the death of his young daughter, Enslin is separated from his wife and going through the motions of maintaining his career in a succession of fruitless ghost-huntings and book-signing events.
The arrival of a cryptic warning to avoid a mysterious hotel room leads the skeptical writer to investigate and visit the location. He soon learns that there have been over 50 deaths in Room 1408 since the first horrific suicide there in 1912. Enslin is as skeptical as we, the viewers. The brilliance of 1408 is in how, step by step, in moments that escalate from the most subtle to the most shocking, we learn exactly how and why those deaths had to occur.
John Cusack is excellent in a role for which he is perfect.
If this movie doesn't freak you out, I don't know what will.
1408
directed by Mikael Hafstrom
Starring
John Cusack ...............................Mike Enslin
Samuel L. Jackson ....................Gerald Olin
Mary McCormack ........................Lily Enslin
Jasmine Jessica Anthony ........Gracie Enslin
Christopher Carey .....................Fireman
Tony Shalhoub ...........................Sam Farrell
Rated PG-13 for thematic material including disturbing sequences of violence and terror, frightening images and language.
In New York's Dolphin Hotel, the building's owners can pretend that the thirteenth floor doesn't exist by calling it the fourteenth. They can deny entry into a particular room whose number adds up to 13. But there's no escaping the reality that Room 1408 is "an evil fucking room" that quickly drives its occupants insane to the point of death.
1408 is masterfully written, directed and acted, creating the best movie about a haunted place since The Shining in 1980. Like The Shining, 1408 is based on a story by Stephen King, and it displays that writer's classic trademarks. In many ways, 1408 is the more completely satisfying film, even though it's unlikely to establish the same kind of iconic stature in film history.
The conventions of the haunted house tale are as old and creaky and built upon formulaic blueprints as the spooky buildings themselves. 1408 certainly draws upon many often-used story elements, but as always, the pleasure is in experiencing how the story is retold and made new again.
It's interesting how much storytellers of humor and horror have in common. Whether it's in delivering a comic punchline or a short, sharp shock; a growing sense of giddy fun or a gathering sense of suspense and dread, timing is everything. The makers of 1408 got the timing down to a fine art.
Mike Enslin, the protagonist of 1408, is a writer who documents haunted tourist destinations in a series of books for fans of the supernatural. Following the death of his young daughter, Enslin is separated from his wife and going through the motions of maintaining his career in a succession of fruitless ghost-huntings and book-signing events.
The arrival of a cryptic warning to avoid a mysterious hotel room leads the skeptical writer to investigate and visit the location. He soon learns that there have been over 50 deaths in Room 1408 since the first horrific suicide there in 1912. Enslin is as skeptical as we, the viewers. The brilliance of 1408 is in how, step by step, in moments that escalate from the most subtle to the most shocking, we learn exactly how and why those deaths had to occur.
John Cusack is excellent in a role for which he is perfect.
If this movie doesn't freak you out, I don't know what will.
directed by Mikael Hafstrom
Starring
John Cusack ...............................Mike Enslin
Samuel L. Jackson ....................Gerald Olin
Mary McCormack ........................Lily Enslin
Jasmine Jessica Anthony ........Gracie Enslin
Christopher Carey .....................Fireman
Tony Shalhoub ...........................Sam Farrell
Rated PG-13 for thematic material including disturbing sequences of violence and terror, frightening images and language.
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