1408

Synopsis

Adapted from a Steven King short story, 1408, like every Steven King story ever, concerns a struggling writer. Mike Enlsin makes a living visiting “haunted” hotels and writing about them. After receiving an anonymous tip of room 1408, Mike heads to the hotel to stay in the room. Upon arriving, he meets the hotel manager, played by Samuel Jackson, who begs him to not stay in the room. Naturally Mike insists and gets the key to the room. If you’ve heard anything of this movie at all then you know this is where things start going horribly wrong. If not then, well, this is where things start going horrible wrong.
The rest of the movie follows Mike Enslin as he tries to combat the evil of the room and make an escape. 1408 takes the viewer through the vast array of horrors that Mike endures ranging from psychotic and suicidal ghosts to pictures coming alive. Also, John Cusack’s character has a strong back-story involving his ex-wife and their dying daughter that plays a large role in the movie.

Opinion

Steven King has long been a favorite author of mine and 1408 is just another basic example of his work. I quite liked this movie adaptation but I have yet to read the original story. While the movie is not particularly scary, it certainly has a creepiness all its own. There a few twists and turns including one very big and…shall I say, misleading, one in the latter half of the film. My main concern with this movie on the other hand, is that it includes a lot of back-story and other plot elements that don’t seem to flesh out or get explained at all by the end of the film
1408’s acting isn’t really much to talk about but it is quite good nonetheless. John Cusack’s character is a rather typical caricature of the cynical man who “believes in nothing but himself” and has a dry sarcastic comment for everything. The movie spends the largest amount of its time around Mike Enslin for obvious reasons. I haven’t really seen him act in much else but he certainly does a good job in this movie especially since he was forced to act by himself and respond terrified to nothing. Samuel Jackson acts pretty much the same as he does in most of his movies but with significantly less yelling. The first exchange between the two characters in particular is a fine display of their acting talent.

Overall

All together, 1408 is entertaining enough that a second view can be just as enjoyable as the first even after all the twists have been exposed. Eventually I’d like to see more Steven King adaptations but for now this is one of my favorites (second to Secret Window). If you enjoy a creepy but fun film or are a big Steven King fan than I certainly recommend this film.

7 out of 10