It's not awful... but it really should be better!

Rating: 5/10 (22 September 2007)

In what has, allegedly, been perceived as an interesting concept for a horror in a time when contemporary and commercial American cinema seems to be offering nothing more than "torture trash", is in fact not that interesting. This is mainly due to the fact that once intellectual logic is applied, the film flounders. Overall 1408 fails in its attempt to offer the acceptable psychological horror that has so often been associated with Stephen King adaptations, and it is for precisely this reason that many will feel let down.
Those familiar with this genre will however notice the inventive and directorial aspects that make the film stand apart (most notably the drawn out scenes in which our anticipation is ridden on the basis of genre clichés and the claustrophobic nature so brilliantly conveyed via the imaginative use of surrealist imagery). 1408 is not awful, but it should be brilliant and unfortunately it is not