1408: Movie Review, DVD Review (2007)

In the wake of all those dumb, disparaging "Saw" and "Hostel" movies, which continue to hang audiences by the throat with ropes of entrails, it's nice to come upon a throwback like Mikael Hafstrom's "1408," a horror film that eschews today's penchant for torture porn and gets back to the basics.

In this case, that means shrieking ghosts reliving their deaths by leaping from hotel windows, clock radios springing to life even though they're unplugged, scratchy sounds coming from behind bleeding walls, and a sense of claustrophobia that nibbles away at the screen like one of those rats in the upcoming "Ratatouille."

Based on a 2002 Stephen King short story, "1408" finds the novelist back on familiar ground--the film involves a hotel, a writer, dead people, madness. Since we've been there before with King in "The Shining," fans should expect less in the way of something new and more in the way of something honed.

The film stars John Cusack as Mike Enslin, a trash writer of kitschy guide books that seek out presumably haunted locales for those interested in visiting them. Though Enslin himself doesn't believe in ghosts, he's nevertheless carved himself a niche, a living--and an escape. Once a promising writer of note, Enslin lost his way after the death of his daughter, Gracie (Jasmine Jessica Anthony), and the ensuing dissolve of his marriage to Lily (Mary McCormack).

Now, at New York City's dusty Dolphin Hotel--it's no Overlook, but it has its unnerving charms--Enslin is there to stay in room 1408, where 56 people have died tragic deaths over the years and where the manager (Samuel L. Jackson) tells him he won't live to see the next hour. Enslin scoffs at the idea. Besides, if there is a satanic hellfire burning in that room--and he seriously doubts it--it's nothing he can't handle.

Those who believe he's wrong should raise their Bibles now and turn up their Christian rock.
With its disarming sense of humor (the use of The Carpenters "We've Only Just Begin" is as inspired a use of song as the movies have seen this year), its effective use of ghosts and its willingness to depend on suspense rather than gore to give its audience a jolt, "1408" might suffer from significant lapses in logic, but with Cusack believable within the unbelievable and the tension rising high, those lapses are easy to overlook.

Grade: B