Intense; King and Cusack create timeless movie.

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2009)

A climactic film which seemed to only get better and better and scarier and scarier as it went along. As soon as it finished it felt like a ride was over, this movie was very intense to watch, I couldn't look away for a second.
Definitely one of Stephen King's scariest short stories translated into a screenplay. The whole way through I could just imagine how the book would be, and how they thought to adapt it into a movie. However I do not think I have the guts to read the book!
This intense film is carried out pretty much inside room 1408, in the posh New York hotel named "Dolphin", following a small time writter of novels such as "10 Most Haunted Hotels" and "10 Most Haunted Graveyards." Which leaves the heavy burden on the acting skills of John Cusack and the writing of Stephen King. As mentioned, King executed the story immaculately, the character introductions are intriguing and not forgetting the great performance from Samual L. Jackson, who manages to set up the scenario impeccably. This film reminded me what a high quality actor John Cusack is, maybe the best I've seen him. I was told by my brother that he has this skill, he is just always given "John Cusack" roles. After watching the film I am definitely going to re-watch High Fidelity and also one of King's other scariest movies, the notorious It.
As the story progresses, it would seem only a certain number of events could occur in a hotel room. My friends, this could not be further from the truth. Despite expecting the next scare, it was always a surprise, and while one part of me was on the come down from the previous scare, it only seemed to get freakier. I found myself breathing heavily and thinking "what else could possible happen? how can it get scarier than that??" only to be thinking the same thought 15 minutes later after the next scene.
An excellently written story executed immaculately on the big screen. Highly recommended for a scary night in.