A great balanced traditional horror movie

Rating: 9/10 (11 September 2007)

It has been a while since a movie such as 1408 has graced our screens. Firstly, this is not a gore fest. Actually I can hardly remember any blood in the movie let alone full on gore. The story is well written(as we have come to expect from King). It is putting King's work on the screen and doing his work justice. For me, this is the best transition of A king novel since The Shining or Misery. in fact, the story sort of gave me the impression that this is what would have happened if Jack, The main character from the Shining, had gone into that room! Cusack is perfectly cast as the non-believer with a lot of emotional baggage to boot. He has great comic timing, to ease the almost tense nature of the film. The balance between old fashioned in-your-face scares and more thought provoking scares is great. The downfall of this movie is the final 10-15 minutes. If you can bypass that, then you will find this movie enjoyable i suspect. It is a MUST for horror fans, and I would say for general audiences, this is a summer movie you should see before it sneaks past. It may not be the biggest blockbuster, but I found it one of the best movies this summer and the best horror this year. 9/10