A Very Smart, Strong, Brainy and Brawny Movie

Rating: 9/10 (24 June 2007)

Did you see "Derailed"? Yeah. Not too good. But Mikael Hafstrom is back, with an 180-degree-turn-around of a movie, starring John Cusack and Samuel Jackson. Adapted from the Stephen King short story of the same name, "1408" tells the story of Mike Enslin, an acerbic, acid-tongued writer traipsing around the world, proclaiming everywhere that ghosts don't exist. He also does so in his books, which aren't particularly well-received; it's more like they're not received at all, really. The film opens with Mike checking into a supposedly-haunted bed and breakfast on a dark and stormy night. Hafstrom doesn't even try to trick us into believing something scary will happen; he runs the opening credits during Mike's stay at the hotel. It's this kind of assurance and strong-handedness that makes "1408" so compulsively watchable, and entertaining on many levels. In watching the film, you feel like you're watching a film by a director who knows what he's doing, and who is confident in the final product. This isn't always a good thing (Michael Bay is one example) but Mikael Hafstrom, at least in this film, is very much rock-solid. Mike gets a letter in the mail which leads him, by way of his local library, to The Dolphin Hotel at 45th and Lexington in New York City. In the hotel is notorious room 1408, which has caused over sixty deaths. Why would the hotel still be in business? We don't know. But it doesn't matter. It's Mike's prerogative to check into the room and prove, once and for all, that "ghosties and goulies" don't exist. Mike is able to check into "1408", despite much confrontation between himself and The Dolphin hotel's owner, played by Samuel L. Jackson. As you may guess, the room is full of nightmarish activity, and John Cusack is suddenly in a hotel room alone, and he gives a superb performance. Overall, "1408" is a very entertaining movie. Stephen King provides great material for film, stories that are frightening, but also full of insight into the human condition. It hasn't been since "The Green Mile" that Stephen King's material was translated so well to the big screen; the writers take the characters, story, and emotional insight, but also something decidedly King-ian: his sense of play and fun amidst the horror. This becomes very apparent in the film's twisty ending. The really only solid performance in the movie is Cusack, the rest are so-so. But it really doesn't matter; Cusack shares the screen with only a few ghosts, and for only a few seconds. Combine that with Hafstrom's eye-popping visual effects, and the detectable presence of Stephen King, and you've got a brilliant film.