Stephen King at his finest and a film worthy of suspense

Rating: 9/10 (1 July 2007)

I love Stephen King...adore everything he does and writes. I think he is a downright modern day literary genius and I have loved almost every film based on his works done with the right spin and the right 'King' touch. You can't go wrong because the man is the master of suspense, terror and horror and 1408 is no exception. I credit King as the writer only because screenplay writers Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (all very accomplished writers) did a terrific job of adapting over King's short story and keeping in all the King-ism's that make his stories great. The name of Mike Enslin in itself is a King-ism in some way, the main character is a writer, free to travel and do his thing, separated from his wife, cynical, and then you have the more precise things like the old song suddenly blaring on the radio, turning something mundane into something evil and horrible (ie: The Motel Room) The film just holds it's King style very well and rivets you to the story. Much of that must be accredited to it's lead actor who, like many critics say, performs basically a one-man-show holding 99% of our attention and action and suspense in one room.
John Cusack has always been a personal favorite of mine. Somehow I don't think he's really gotten his BIG breakthrough although he has had some incredible roles and 1408 is definitely one of them. Cusack plays Mike Enslin, a low budget horror writer that investigates haunted locals and writes about them. His cynicism and the tragic loss of his daughter has left him believing nothing about the afterlife or ghosts of any kind. Cusack's gradual character change from the cynic to the man trapped by the very essence he fought to not believe is brilliant and he still holds that feisty cynicism even as everything comes crashing around. He is the action star, the dramatic star, the comedic star, and the horror star all in one film sometimes all at once and that makes his performance absolutely brilliant. Of course there is some support there for him including the amazing Samuel L. Jackson who honestly doesn't get much of a chance to be amazing. He has a very small cameo role as the manager of the hotel who pleads with Cusack not to stay in room '1408.' Jackson gets maybe 15 minutes of screen time but he's still fun to watch. Mary McCormack and Jasmine Jessica Anthony play Cusack's family (daughter and wife) and they share a little bit less screen time than Jackson but they are both very good in the perspective roles.
'1408' doesn't rely on gore or excessive violence and scares but rather works in the sub conscious creating this eerie and sci-fi type situation with every day situations and objects to really make your skin crawl. There is a surprise around every corner and any time you think you know what's going on it's never the answer. The seemingly 'horrible' ending is not the ending at all and keeps you in your seat for the next half hour. 1408 is the perfect suspense movie for a night at the movies. A worthwhile treat that potentially could be serialized. Only Stephen King could make a terrific story about a killer hotel room. 9/10