1408 - Stephen King Revisits the Haunted Hotel
1408 B+
PG-13 for thematic material including disturbing sequences of violence and terror, frightening images and language.
Based on the Stephen King short story, 1408 follows Mike Enslin (John Cusack), a writer of books about haunted hotels that doesn't believe in ghosts. Upon receiving a postcard warning him about room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel in New York City, where several dozen people mysteriously died, he decides to investigate for himself. Although adamantly discouraged by the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson), Enslin, positive that nothing can happen to him besides a good night's sleep, decides that he knows best and locks himself in for the night. This turns out to be a bad decision.
1408 starts out really strong, providing some really good scary moments throughout the first half of the film. It's not that the film isn't good past the half-way point, but it's certainly not as terrifying. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since the second half of the film is where the majority of the character development takes place, and without it, it would have probably been just another stupid slasher flick. Instead, what we get here is a smart, thrilling, and suspenseful film that has you guessing till the end.
This is not the best story King wrote, and with that being said, the very short story it is based on is different from the story of the movie. But still, I got the feeling that they wanted to create here another Shining, and it just doesn't live up to the Kubrick classic. On it's own, it's a much better-than-average horror flick that doesn't rely on hardcore torture and gore to thrill it's audience.
Comments