1408 (2007)

~Cast~

John Cusack...........................Mike Enslin

Samuel L. Jackson..................Gerald Olin

Mary McCormack...................Lily Enslin

Tony Shalhoub........................Sam Farrell

Jasmine Jessica Anthony..........Katie Enslin

Directed by.............................Mikael Hafstrom

My Rating:

    "Ghoulies and Ghosties and long legged beasties don't exist!" ~Mike Enslin

   Once again we have an adaptation to another Stephen King book which can be a blessing or a curse in my honest opinion. King's puts so much depth into his books and characters that it is absolutely impossible for a film to capture 1/12th of any character contained in his novels making the movies hit or miss. I think the majority of the movies based on King's books and short stories are horrid so when I got wind of 1408 (based on the short story entitled ROOM 1408 by King) being made into a movie, I was nervous that I was in for another shitty movie in the vein of DREAMCATCHER. With an all star cast and a decent budget, they managed to turn the 108 page story into a rather interesting, and somewhat suspenseful film that managed to instill me with that uneasy feeling throughout the majority of the film. The biggest downfall I felt with this movie is the length, I felt that they could have taken out a 20 minute portion of this film and made it better and yes, I know exactly which scene that should have been dropped because it's there to extend the run time and that's it. You are removed from the room during a scene that completely ruins the tension that the film spent over an hour building up. Let's not start this review on the negative though, let's go into all the positives such as Cusack's awesome performance and how well the tension works for the first three quarters of the film. This is one of the better Stephen King movies that have come out in recent time and luckily it's not a 4 hour made for TV movie with 90% of the language and gore toned down.  

    Mike Enslin is a skeptical writer investigating paranormal events and then writing about them in his books. He goes all over the place tracking down haunted houses and hotels, staying the night and seeing if all the talk is true about it being haunted. After a book signing, Mike receives a random post card from the Dolphin Hotel with the words "Don't go in Room 1408" inscribed upon the back. After doing research on the place and forcing his way into getting a room with the help of his editor Sam Farrell (MONK CAMEO!!! YUP! TONY SHALHOUB IS IN THIS MOVIE FOR ABOUT 8 MINUTES!) Once Mike arrives he is greeted by Gerald Olin the manager of the Hotel who begs and pleads his case as to why Mike should avoid the room and go into another room for the night. He even tells him he will say he stayed in the room to make people think the story is true. Of course it doesn't work or else we would have had a very boring movie on our hands, so Mike goes into his room and settles in. Shortly after arriving things start happening and then everything starts coming at him all at once. So what is the story behind 1408? Could it really be haunted and if so, by who? Could it be paranoia setting in from sleep depravation or could it be the mind assuming things that aren't real to be real? Or possibly, could it all be an elaborate expensive hoax, a tourist trap with spy camera and hidden switches all constructed by Gerald Olin himself? Only one way to find out...

    1408 is a film that is definitely worth watching on a dark and stormy night with the lights off and the sound blasting for it's a good old fashion ghost story. Like the Shining though, the film begins to make you ponder if what you are seeing is actually a haunted room or delusions from a paranoid man.  This combo really worked in this film but I feel it would have worked better if the events that occurred were more subtle and less in your face. My biggest problem with this film is really the running time, there is a 20 minute scene of this film that plays out about 3/4's of the way in but turns out to be a complete and utter waste of time. Hard to explain it without giving it away but it removes you from the room and puts you into another place that turns out to be nothing more than a tease and a waste of time. I felt that the film would have worked allot better as a short movie to be honest, a tales from the crypt episode would have been perfect for this story. Instead we get a lot of stuff that is never actually answered in the film nor explained as to why this room is haunted in the first place or if it really even is. These slight things though bring the movie down for me but not enough to not check it out. 1408 is full of creepy moments, cool visuals, solid acting, and the movie keeps you interested from start to finish.

    Acting wise, we have John Cusack starring in this film as Mike Enslin and when I say starring, I mean he is pretty much the only actor we see on screen for 75% of the film which means the entire film depends on how believable he is. Cusack shows us his acting chops and proves why he is one of the top actors out there today, he gives off one hell of a performance with every line hitting with the exception of maybe two due to lame editing. Next we come to Samuel L. Jackson who plays Samuel L. Jackson only named Gerald Olin, the hotel manager who warns Mike not to go into the room. I really wish he had more screen time in this because I felt that his character meant allot more to the story than we were aloud to see. Really sucks because I think it would have helped make the film fit together better had they utilized him more instead of having Samuel L. Jackson drop an F-bomb and back story then be gone. Mary McCormick plays Lily Enslin, Mike's ex-wife whose reasons for divorce aren't clear at the beginning. Mary does a solid job though in the part she has, I would have liked to see more of the arguments and stuff like that but no such luck. Tony Shalhoub plays Mike's Editor and is in this movie for about 2-3 scenes which bummed me out cause I love Shalhoub in almost everything he is in (Yes, even Paulie!!!) he does a good job with the screen time he has but aside from that, it could have been played by anyone and it would have had the same effect. Finally we come to Jasmine Jessica Anthony who plays Mike's daughter Katie in this film and she does a solid performance. Directing wise, this movie has everything I like in ghost stories, long shots of the room, cool angles, and tons of creepy ambience and tension. I do feel that the room may have felt a tad bit to "safe" if you will but at the end of the day, it worked out.

    Gore wise this movie has next to nothing since its PG-13 so here we go...we have after shot photographs of victims with blood on them, a bloody hand, blood dripping out of an ear, mummified zombie corpse face bashed in, and that's about all I can remember. Nudity wise there is nothing in this section, except for a painting that contains a nipple shot. "That wasn't in the theatrical version!" Gee...I wonder where I saw that...

~DVD Review~ I was sent the 2-disc collectors edition of this film in the mail and it's taken me forever to get this review up. The 2-disc contains a ton of stuff and a really cool collector’s item inside the case which is 5 postcards from the Dolphin Hotel. We get 2 versions of this movie; the theatrical version is of course on the first disc while the extended version that includes an alternate ending is included on the second disc. Both are presented in widescreen format and contain 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtracks in English but the 1st disc also contains a French track as well. I watched the extended version of the film and to be perfectly honest, couldn't notice any differences between the 2 versions aside from the ending and a random painted nipple that was present in the director's cut. What I missed that made the runtime go from being 104 minutes to 112 minutes is beyond me but whatever it was was very subtle. To be perfectly honest, I actually like the alternate ending more than the original only because it feels like it's more realistic. Like Army of Darkness, the original ending suits the film better but didn't leave people with a happy ending so the S-Mart ending was slapped on that made people happy but didn't really fit the character. That is how I feel about the endings in 1408 for the theatrical ending, while still entertaining, just felt like a cop out and cliché way to end the film. Unfortunately though, this "director's cut" contains my biggest pet peeve with DVD's that claim to be UNCUT/DIRECTOR'S CUT/EXTENDED CUT versions and that is to add footage back but STILL HAVE A FUCKING SECTION FOR DELETED SCENES!!! The reason I want to see an extended cut is to see those deleted scenes in the film, not have to watch the movie again to only realize I just re-watched the same thing with about 3 seconds of  "Don't blink or you will miss it" footage put back in. I wanted the scenes that got cut to be put back into the film but of course...they are not. They give you a ton of them with your option of commentary. The second disc also contains a feature commentary which was informative as well as a feature entitled "THE SECRETS OF 1408" which I found to be a solid featurette that answers allot of questions and gets you inside the making of the film. For the second disc alone, this set is worth it so how is the first disc you ask? The first disc is the same disc you will get when you buy the regular version of the film so it contains 2 features entitled "John Cusack on 1408" and "INSIDE Room 1408" which both are pretty good featurette's. Although they weren't as extensive as the ones on the second disc, for the casual buyer, they will more than satisfy your craving for special features. It also contains the theatrical trailer for the film which I always find to be worthy of a watch for ANY movie. Especially if I hate the film so when I am sitting and going "Why the fuck did I ever think this would be good!?" I can just watch the trailer and be like "Oh yeah that's right! They lied to me and made this movie look good!" So which do you buy? Personally I always prefer the 2-disc versions of films because they are here for a limited time then they are gone but with this set, it's really up to the person who is buying. If you really dug 1408 and want to learn more, than the 2-disc is definitely a really awesome purchase to make for not only do you get more info than normal, but you also get 5 really cool post cards from the Dolphin Hotel. On the other hand, if you just kind of liked the movie or are blind buying it, the 1 disc will suffice for the extended version and alternate ending aren't enough to really warrant you to buy it. They are good but if you didn't really care for the film originally, it's not going to change how you feel since it's pretty much identical in every way. It's up to you...either way; it's a movie that is worth checking out at least once. ~DVD REVIEW~

I say, I didn't regret my stay in room 1408 at all; in fact I will probably make another reservation in the near future as well. While the accommodations were pretty good, but I would say they were of the 5 star caliber. I felt certain things were wrong with the movie including 20 minutes that bothered me more than the ugly house cleaning lady that keeps knocking on the door despite the DO NOT DISTURB sign clinging to the door knob. That's a small price to pay though to have such an entertaining film on your plate, make sure to check into room 1408 and you will at least leave feeling satisfied with what you got.

Special Guest Reviewer:
George Newman

"Someone is ultra dedicated to his work even after being told he could fabricate it and nobody would be none the wiser, he is still determined to go in room 1408. Wow, wish people were that dedicated around here to doing stuff..."

Jack Torrance

"Fuck off Newman."

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