‘1408' gives John Cusack room to develop frightful story line
'1408' gives John Cusack room to develop frightful story line

By Matthew Price

Published: June 22, 2007

Writer Mike Enslin (John Cusack) crisscrosses the country writing travelogues of supposedly "haunted” hotels and mansions. Mike is a skeptic, however, and despite his spectrographic equipment, he has never seen anything to make him believe in ghosts.

When Mike receives a postcard warning him of the notorious Room 1408 in New York's Dolphin Hotel, he does some digging. He finds several mysterious deaths tied to Room 1408. That's enough to persuade him to give it a shot; maybe it will provide a chapter in his next book.

Though the hotel is resistant, Mike gets his publisher's lawyer to compel the hotel to let him rent 1408.

When he gets to New York, however, the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson) tries again to talk Mike out of it.

There are more deaths than just the sensational ones, the manager said. In fact, including deaths that appeared to be of "natural causes,” there have been more than 50 deaths in Room 1408. After the fourth on his watch, the manager said, he ordered the room closed. No one survived more than an hour. While the absentee owners won't allow the room to be permanently shuttered, the room isn't rented out.

Still, Mike has the manager over a legal barrel and demands his opportunity to stay in the room. He thinks the manager is simply pulling his leg, trying to get a better story written. But as strange things begin to happen, Mike realizes 1408 might truly be, as the manager said, "an evil room.”

Based on the Stephen King short story, "1408” is suitably creepy to unsettle most viewers. While it shies away from heavy gore and violence, it's a psychological shocker that will cause more than its share of goosebumps. Director Mikael Hafstrom has created a claustrophobic and haunting film that will keep viewers guessing.

Cusack, acting essentially alone in a hotel room for the majority of the film, carries the narrative and sells the writer's unease with an outstanding performance. Cusack makes Mike an affable skeptic, which makes his transformation in Room 1408 all the more frightening.

— Matthew Price