1408 (2007)

A great thrillride
1408 was pretty good. Has a couple of good scares and keeps you interested throughout.

It took a while for the movie to actually get to the point. not until 30 min. in does it finally start to get exciting. I still enjoyed it.

1408= B+

good movie
it was longer than i expected and a strange twist at the end (i didn't quite get it) and this wasn't very scary, but it was cool. haunted hotel? classic!

Quality Horror Film Hacked Up by US Distributor
1408's theatrical cut is just below mediocre but the director's cut is a solid four stars out of five and one of the most effective horror films in the last five to ten years. So I went with three stars to balance things. It is amazing that such little changes can have such a dramatic effect on one viewer's perception. It's a shame that the Weinstein's decided to flub 1408 and give it a sappy and cliché Hollywood ending rather than the dark and gutsy horror ending that Mikael Håfström decided to create. This is the version that you folks in Europe and South American got to see in the theaters. The director's cut certainly seems to be the real cut, as 1408 seems to move along at its own pace within that version. It is simply a film about a man who checks into a hotel and we enjoy the suspense build up as the film's main protagonist soldiers forth. Håfström clearly knows what he's doing and he is influenced by a bevy of horror's most keenly detailed films, and that is why it is such a shame that his punches are pulled by Dimension Films for the US audience. His razors are dulled, his poison is given an antidote, and his biggest attack of all is completely de-clawed. Shame on the Weinsteins and shame on the US audience that always has a hankering for these sappy moments of comforting resolve. Other than that I have no strong feelings on the matter.

The Weinsteins did do one good thing and that is to suggest the casting of the Dolphin Hotel's manager, Mr. Gerald Olin. He probably should've been played by some little old white guy with a fancy accent, but instead we get the absolutely iconic Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson is surely one of my favorite actors and it is simply because I enjoy watching him in anything he is in, and 1408 is no exception. Jackson is like Jack Nicholson, he can play anything but it seems that creeping perpetually underneath every character he plays is a little bit of Sam winking at the audience as if to say "it's me again". Olin is the formulaic old man who warns the kids not to go into that house or stay at that camp, and no one listens. The problem is Jackson, as an icon, is traditionally such a great intimadator, but here he is the intimidated and yet he carries the same confidence in 1408 that he carries anywhere else. He warns ghost skeptic and author Mike Enslin, played by the equally enjoyable John Cusack (if you don't believe me I recommend seeing Grace is Gone) that his quest to find physical or visual validation of the supernatural will end in room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel, but it will very likely mean the end of Enslin's life as well. 1408 is an extremely evil room. It would have to be if not even Jackson will go inside.

The screenplay is great and it is based on a Stephen King short story I'm only familiar with by name. The music in this film is outstanding and works the suspense triggers with the pace perfectly. Enslin is a loner, who the audience will either like or dislike, but his character is very strong and Cusack plays him as if the audience could take him or leave him as a viable hero. The scenes with Cusack and Jackson together are very enjoyable to watch as the two are such dramatically different actors and their characters are so fundamentally strong and so fundamentally in opposition of each other within the context of this story. These scenes work to further heighten your curiosity. What the hell is going on inside room 1408 anyway!? Don't you worry, the Weinsteins will protect you.