Review

Based on a short novella by horror icon Stephen King, 1408 follows Michael Enslin (John Cusack), an alcoholic writer recovering from a devastating family tragedy. Having authored several books promoting haunted tourist destinations, he works primarily as a paranormal investigator. He has, however, been greatly disappointed by previous findings and suspects that he will never make contact with an otherworldly being.

Enslin becomes determined to stay in room 1408 of New York City’s Dolphin Hotel after receiving a mysterious postcard warning him against it. Upon his arrival, he is further warned by Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), the Dolphin’s hotel manager. Olin informs that the room has played host to a total of 56 deaths. In addition to seven window jumpers, a man who drowned in a bowl of chicken soup, numerous overdoses, hangings, stranglings and mutilations, 22 people have died natural deaths from heart attacks and strokes. According to Olin, the room itself is evil. No one person has survived inside for more than one hour.

Enslin still insists upon visiting 1408 and, shortly after his arrival, becomes much less skeptical. A clock radio counts down the last hour of his life while blaring “We’ve Only Just Begun” by The Carpenters. Toilet paper folds itself, the thermostat switches back and forth between polar extreme temperatures, ominous paintings seem to come to life, and the television displays highlights of his most painful memories. Malevolent forces deliver Enslin to the brink of insanity as he attempts survive the entire hour in what seems to be the portal to hell.

Carrying the larger majority of the film by himself, Cusack offers his most engaging performance in years. His animated reactions add an appropriate mix of both humor and tension to the largely clichéd but highly effective scares offered in the promising first half of the feature. Unfortunately, Hollywood-happy Swedish filmmaker Mikael Håfström – director of the equally illogical Derailed – squanders his promising exposition. Shocks and suspense are eventually abandoned in favor of unnecessary special effects and an overly dramatic, audience-tested climax and denouement that seem implausible even within the confines of a supernatural thriller.

For many discerning horror fans, the ending is likely to stigmatize the film as a whole. Still, the eerie production design and spooky initial occurrences should prove enjoyable enough to warrant a stormy night home viewing with the lights out.

 -- Robert O'Neill