1408 (2007) August 6, 2008
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Mikael Håfström
Endless Asian movie remakes, questionable 70’s ‘re-imaginings’, and franchise-spinning ‘torture porn’ flicks filling the Halloween schedules - these are but fads for a Hollywood horror industry stabilised by one consistent source of inspiration: Stephen King short stories. Ever more, they are the bread and butter of American horror output, with nearly forty credits since the turn of the century and a further seven in production. This is but one of those stories, albeit a high profile one, with a simple premise that is easily summed up by its tagline: “Don’t stay in 1408″.
It opens with supernatural cynic Mike Enslin, who writes books about ghostly phenomena in supposedly haunted locations. As a complete skeptic, he takes each job without fear, so when a request comes through for him to check out the notorious room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York, Mike takes no heed of the stories that plague the room’s history. Hotel manager Gerald Olin warns him that nobody has ever lived through a night in the room, but pushy Mike opts to stay anyway, uninterested in what he considers a publicity stunt. Of course, there’s more truth to the rumours than he can know, and it isn’t long before Mike is being pursued by spiritual forces, unexplainable events, and a radio obsessed with The Carpenters.
As it may well sound, the film quickly becomes a one-man show - not that I’m complaining however, as in this particular case that one man is John Cusack. He balances the methodical with the madness, even as his situation starts to deteriorate and the things that go bump in the night come out to play. Drawn in by his scathing scepticism, Mike Enslin is the kind of character who you want to see go through this experience, and Cusack is the kind of actor I want to see play him. On the other side of the equation is hotel manager Samuel L. Jackson, who gets his name on the poster and ten minutes in the film, playing adequately through the mythical build-up to Enslin’s nightmarish overnight stay.
What the film lacks in cast it attempts to make up for in visual flare, which Swedish director Mikael Håfström handles very well. His American film career takes a step up from the rather sluggish Derailed [review] with some wild angles and the freedom to play around while still keeping a consistent tone. You could argue that it sometimes gets a little too free, or that the levels of tension tend to be sporadic, but Håfström’s basic intentions are clear: creepy is better than outright horrific. There are also plenty of expertly crafted special effects that actually help the film enormously, bringing realism to absurd situations and an eerie quality to the film’s other central character: the room.
So it comes as a disappointment when, come the ending, a film that worked so hard to steadily build up the anticipation completely fumbles the ball. A location change in the third act brings relief from the confines of the room, yet also dampens the pressure after spending a good hour cranking it up. You would be forgiven for guessing where it goes from here, although if you’re watching the Director’s Cut DVD version, I predict that the actual final climax is not necessarily what you might expect. Those who saw it in theatres might be interested to catch the last 10 minutes of the DVD release, if only to compare the differences. But rest assured, neither conclusion satisfies in the way it should.
1408 is a well designed piece of intimate horror let down by that most unforgiving of elements: the ending. The influence of scriptwriters Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski is unclear in the film’s final form - I still think a final act re-write would have benefited the movie as a whole. You can’t deny that it comes from a solid concept though, and that’s all down to maestro of the written frightener, Steven King - once again proving why Hollywood keeps itself attached to his pen ink like a patient on a drip.
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