Disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (19 July 2008)

'Based' on a Stephen King short story, the premise of this movie is enough to send shivers of anticipation up and down the spine of any movie buff or horror fan. John Cusack and Samuel L Jackson share only a short amount of screen time together but even these electric few minutes serve to make the mouth water for the main course - the room! Unfortunately the movie relies on too many plot and character stereotypes to make it memorable after closing credits. The dishevelled protagonist with a tragic past is not only a staple of King's fiction but of other horror films (ie the Reaping). The wife and daughter have scarcely anything to work with, whilst Jackson's appearance is sadly too brief and he barely hits his stride before his scenes are over.
Once in the confines of 1408, what could have been a wonderful chillfest turns out to be a bizarre montage of events, some of which are downright creepy and some of which are downright idiotic. The scares come like clockwork - good scare, crap scare, good scare, crap scare... it starts off nicely with the creeps being subtle, building up the tension. As all hell breaks loose and the skeptical Cusack starts to lose it so does the plot. Cusack holds up his own but the room fails to deliver - except for the annoying receptionist on the end of the phone - pure gold! This could have been so much more and is made even more disappointing because the premise was so fantastic - it was a blank canvas waiting to be filled with horror - yet it appears as if the artist wasn't up to the task.