1408 (2007)

Well produced and directed... but it all looks as harmless as Disneyworld.

John Cusack - a great actor - is very good as the protagonist of this story: an once honest author who now makes up stories about haunted hotels. So he is a non believer... and when faced with a hotel room everybody fears, it is obvious that he knows there's nothing in there except the imagination of those who enter the room.

That is a great premise... but here it fails completely because the film does not offer anything interesting, scary or simply offbeat to surprise the audience.

It all starts beautifully, as Cusack spends the first few minutes in the room and discovers there is something there that puts chocolate on his bed and replaces toilet paper... and turns on the radio that plays The Carpenters.

But that's all... in a few minutes, the room becomes a roller coaster ride... ghosts can be seen jumping out the window... a window closes on Cusack's hand... the key breaks... and soon he discovers he is in one of those places in movies that we hate: a kind of parallel universe where anything goes: it rains... strange noises... it gets too cold... he sees his dead father... he sees his dead daughter... the wall has cracks and drips blood (how unoriginal!)... it snows... the paintings on the wall seem to move... the room gets flooded... the TV shows things... the radio keeps playing while unplugged... etcetera.

We've seen it all before and it is all harmless like the haunted house in Disneyland.

What I hate the most here is that the horror of this film is just a stupid sequence of idiotic tricks. Look: it's a guy locked in a hotel room for one hour. What fabulous ideas are there that turns this constriction into an advantage? None.

Nothing scary here. This is a badly conceived project. Not all horror books can turn into great horror films. September 4, 2008

not too bad

I got this movie free with my pepsi points and was surprised its actually a pretty good movie.Was worth spending my points on but wish that pepsi had more good movies on dvd to get there really isn't much for choices. August 27, 2008

This one surprised me!

Mike Enslin (Cusack) thinks he's seen all the so called hauntings, spirits, and apparitions. He hadn't tried to spend a night in room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel. As an author of books on the subject Mike thought he'd seen it all before. He was wrong.
!408 doesn't have any monsters, or blood and guts, but is a really good retelling of Steven Kings short story about the hotel room from hell. Samuel L Jackson plays the hotel manager who tries to discourage Mike from spending the night there. Although he part is small in the film Mr Jackson's character wash skillfully done, and helps make the film the jewel that it is.
The story is told in the style of a twilight zone episode, only better.
I really enjoyed this movie, I had read some bad reviews from the professional movie critics and if I had left it at that, I would have missed a good film.
Don't forget to watch the alternate ending. August 23, 2008

Unpredictable!!

Fascinating. I can watch this movie over and over. I am very picky movie fan. I hate gore and predictable movies. But I do like to be scared and this one will haunt you and keep you thinking!! August 12, 2008

EXTRAS & SPECIAL FEATURES AMAZON INSIST ON IGNORING

THE EXTRAS

The audio commentary by director Mikael Håfström and writers Scott Alexander and Karaszewski (available on the Director's Cut only)

John Cusack on 1408 and Inside Room 1408 (5 minutes total) are two Webisodes taken from the movie's official site. The first is a short interview with Cusack, who expounds on his character, while the second offers a look at the movie's primary set.

The Secrets of 1408 (23 minutes total) is a series of four featurettes dedicated to the story's characters, production design, effects, and director Håfström.

Five deleted scenes (11 minutes total) are also included. Håfström, Alexander and Karaszewski provide optional commentary for these scenes.


Closing out the extras is the movie's theatrical trailer. August 8, 2008

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