John Cusack as Mike Enslin is appalled that whoever decorated the room thought this lamp went with the curtains. © 2007 Dimension Films.

Even though 1408 was lacking in story and detailed character information, this creepy thriller was a pleasant relief from the torture porn that has built up in Hollywood’s bowels.

Author Mike Enslin (John Cusack) searches the country for haunted hotels and creepy sights inhabited by the dead. His many stays have returned nothing paranormal. Scouting places to check into for his latest book, he stumbles across the legendary Room 1408 in the Dauphin Hotel, New York City. Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), the hotel manager, refuses to give Enslin the key to 1408 and explains that among the 56 deaths in 1408, no victim has lasted more than an hour. As Olin reveals more about the room, complete with explicit crime scene photographs, Enslin refuses to take no for an answer. Though he’s very amused at how typical and cushy the room appears, compared to his other dull trips, Mike Enslin is in for an intense night.

Though not edge-of-your-seat terrifying, there are a few jump-shock moments that I was particularly impressed with considering I haven’t been in any way frightened at the movie theaters in a long time. The “cheap shots” of loud noises and mirror scares that I generally spit at are turned around in 1408 and manage to make your heart skip a beat.
Besides a blizzard and a wave of water that crashes into the room, the more impressive aspects of 1408 are represented by the room’s first claimed souls as they take on the appearance of being straight from their photographs, as they plunge to their deaths by throwing themselves out the window.

The psychological aspects of the film, featuring the bold and occasionally sarcastic acting of John Cusack, hold the film together despite a story line that lacks a lot of background information about his haunting past and well… a storyline besides him huddled in the corners of the room, speaking to no one but his “old friend,” a tape recorder he uses to write his books, certainly one of the few motifs in the film—representing that while there is a second voice, he is still so very alone.

Director Mikael Håfström knows how to work a scene, with 1408 and Derailed; he seems to be a heroic filmmaking underdog that is just waiting to land an Oscar-worthy script. The actor, unlike many others in the industry, can depict scary onscreen insanity and show that his character is suffering from this.

There are a few shots in the film, thanks the cinematography in the film by Benoit Delhomme, where the camera travels around him in the lobby freely and, while in the room, the camera traps him in the corner as he holds a lamp creating a dark silhouette of himself against the wall as he speaks into his tape-recorder. His acting is truly at its prime when he’s shaking the shelves of the alcohol cabinet, deceived by an illusion of Samuel L. Jackson giving an “I told you so speech.”

Stephen King’s novels are absolutely brilliant, but they can certainly be a challenge when hitting the screen. Often they drag on too long, or if they were a short story there often isn’t enough to satisfy an audience. It can be hit or miss.

1408 could have gone easier on the slime and done without some of the environmental effects of having a wave of water or an indoor blizzard, and dealt more the with returning of those deceased in 1408, or also possibly may have delved further into John Cusack’s psychological demise.

I enjoyed “1408,” but now that the filmmakers in Hollywood have seen how a more traditional unleashing of suspense can do a film good, maybe more of them won’t return to the “gorno” genre.

Rating: PG-13 for thematic material, including disturbing sequences of violence and terror, frightening images and language.

Running time 94 minutes.